Covid: Highest one-day increase with 33,470 cases as deaths rise by 563

  • Watch ITV News Science Editor Tom Clarke's analysis of the rise in cases

There have been 33,470 new cases of Covid-19 in the UK in the past 24 hours - the highest daily figure since the outbreak began.

The results, as of 9am on Thursday, bring the total number of cases in the UK to 1,290,195.

There have also been 563 new deaths reported, which puts the total figure at 50,928.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths when Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have been more than 65,000 deaths involving coronavirus in the UK.

Experts have previously warned that describing the daily figure as a record could be “misleading” as it is not clear how many people were actually infected during the height of the first wave, due to a lack of community testing at the time.

On Monday, there was a significant jump in Covid cases in the UK, which is not believed to have been linked to mass testing in Liverpool.

What's behind Thursday's huge surge in cases?

ITV News' resident statistician, Prof Jennifer Rogers, vice president at the Royal Statistical Society, said it is too early to tell if this a trend or a one-off spike.

She said: "Looking at case numbers by specimen date, it looks like the spike really happened on Monday and then the numbers have come back down. There’s a difference between specimen date and reporting date.

"At the moment it’s too early to see if it’s a blip or part of a new trend. Everything else regarding growth and R number has been suggesting that things are levelling off and even potentially starting to shrink.

"I would be very surprised if this is the start of something to worry about. Sometimes we get these types of spikes in time series data, and one day of spike isn’t enough to say whether it’s a new trend. Looking at Liverpool’s data, it doesn’t look like it’s due to them. "In short, I’m not worried just yet. And we can’t really say statements like this is the highest ever number because we already know that figures in the first wave would probably be even higher than we see now if we’d been testing back then like we are now.

ITV News Science Editor explains more about the spike

England

A further 317 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 35,640, NHS England said on Thursday. Patients were aged between 33 and 98. All except nine, aged between 48 and 81, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths were between October 10 and November 11. Fourteen other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Wales

There have been a further 867 cases of coronavirus in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 63,151. Public Health Wales reported another 34 deaths, taking the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 2,142.

Scotland

In Scotland, thee have been 45 new deaths reported, taking the death toll to 3,188.

Cases also increased by 1,212 to 77,660.

Northern Ireland

The Department of Health for Northern Ireland said: "548 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Sadly, a further 15 deaths have been reported."