The UK Has Recorded 1,041 New Covid Deaths In The Last 24 Hours With Record Infection Rates
The UK has recorded over 1,000 new coronavirus deaths
2 min read
Another grim coronavirus milestone has been passed with more than 1,000 deaths recorded in a single 24 hour period for the first time since April.
According to new figures released by the Department of Health on Wednesday there were also a further 62,322 new Covid-19 infections recorded since yesterday – the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
It brings the UK's death toll to 77,346, with 4,798 people dying with the virus in the last seven days alone.
It is the first time the deaths in the UK have exceeded 1,000 in a single 24-hour period since the beginning of the second wave of infections.
The grim figures come after Prime Minister Boris Johnson said lockdown restrictions were likely to last until the end of March, removed only on a "gradual" basis, following new analysis which showed an estimated one in 50 in the UK people had the virus on January 2.
Mr Johnson told MPs that vaccines were the "means of escape" from the pandemic, with his spokesperson revealing that seven mass vaccination centres were due to open around the country from next week.
Dr Susan Hopkins, deputy director of the national infections service at Public Health England has warned the situation was the "most serious we've been in so far in this pandemic".
"We are now seeing a number of patients in hospitals 40% higher than the cases at the peak in March/April," she told BBC Breakfast.
"And we know that the cases in the community are still rising. And that means that we expect to see further admissions to hospital, and we expect to see further deaths."
She added: "We hope that everyone is now staying at home, reducing their contacts, and that we can start to see rapid declines in the new infections."
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