UK reports a record 1,820 daily coronavirus deaths
The UK has recorded a further 1,820 Covid-related deaths in the past 24 hours, marking the highest daily jump since the start of the pandemic.
The figure takes the total number of fatalities within 28 days of a positive Covid test to 93,290.
A further 38,905 people tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, suggesting the four nations are beginning to feel the effects of current lockdown measures.
It marks a significant climbdown on the 81,525 cases recorded on 29 December, after regional restrictions were temporarily lifted to allow for social mixing over the festive period.
However, scientists have warned that the “worst is yet to come”, with the NHS beginning to buckle as hospitalisations continue to decline.
Sir Patrick Vallance, England’s chief scientific adviser, today said some hospitals across the UK resemble a “war zone”, as wards deal with an influx of coronavirus patients in the second wave of the disease.
The number of patients in hospital with Covid is almost double that of the first wave, with latest figures showing there are currently 39,068 patients being treated for coronavirus.
Just under 4,000 patients are currently on a ventilator — an increase of almost 50 per cent compared to the peak of the first wave last year.
Home secretary Priti Patel faced questions today over the government’s handling of the pandemic, after latest official figures showed the UK currently has the highest Covid death rate in the world.
Oxford University research platform Our World in Data said today that the UK currently has the highest seven-day average of Covid deaths at 16.54 per 1,000,000.
Patel told the BBC there was “no one reason” why the country’s death rate is currently world-leading, before saying “government has listened to a range of advice, and followed advice, from professionals and advisers, medical, scientific, from day one in this pandemic”.