UK records highest ever number of coronavirus cases in 24 hours
The UK has recorded 7,143 more Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, while a further 71 people have died with the virus.
The number of daily new cases is the highest ever recorded in the UK. It is five times more than the number recorded four weeks ago, when 1,295 cases were reported.
It’s likely the UK’s increased testing facilities have contributed to the large number of daily infections, when compared what was available in March, April and May. The nation has now seen 446,156 infections since the start of the pandemic, while the death toll stands at 42,072.
The daily increase in deaths is also the nation’s highest number since July 1, when 97 people died. There are currently 2,049 people being treated for the virus in hospital, with 297 of them requiring a ventilator, government data revealed.
There were 198,402 pillar one and two tests carried out on Monday, while capacity stood at 287,690. On-average, there more than 100,000 more tests taking place daily in September than there were in April, May and June.
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NHS England reported a further 44 deaths across hospitals, all of which occurred in the last 10 days. Wales recorded three deaths in hospitals, while Scotland and Northern Ireland have not released their data.
The new figures come just as the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed there were 40% more deaths with coronavirus in England and Wales in the week ending September 18th than in the seven days prior.
A total of 139 deaths registered in the week mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate. This is the highest number of virus deaths since the week ending August 14.
The figures mark the second consecutive weekly rise, with the number of deaths involving Covid-19 increasing from 99 the previous week.
Globally, more than 1,000,000 people have now died from the virus, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre. There have also been 33,417,386 cases of the virus since the pandemic began.
Earlier this month the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that it was ‘certainly unimaginable’ but ‘not impossible’ that the global death toll could hit 2,000,000, even with a vaccine.
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