Covid: UK breaks daily reported coronavirus cases record for second day in a row

The UK has broken the record for the highest daily reported number of Covid cases since the start of the pandemic for a second day in a row.

Daily reported cases have been rising in the past week, with a further 119,789 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases recorded in the UK as of 9am on Thursday, the government said.

It is the largest daily rise in confirmed infections since the pandemic began, beating the previous record of 106,122 set on Wednesday.

The latest data also reported a further 147 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for the coronavirus.

Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 173,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

There are now 90,906 cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in the UK, after 16,817 were confirmed on Thursday by the UK Health Security Agency.

The latest figures come as Health Secretary Sajid Javid confirmed there will be no further announcements on Covid restrictions in England before Christmas. “We are not planning any further announcements this week,” he said.

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Mr Javid welcomed early findings that suggest the Omicron variant may cause less severe illness than the Delta strain, but warned it could still lead to “significant” hospital admissions.

The health secretary's comments come two days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised there would not be any further measures before the festive day, but did not specify whether any new guidance will be imposed in the weeks following December 25.

England

There have been 107,055 new Covid cases in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 10,011,650.

The nation recorded 125 more Covid-related deaths, raising the death toll to 128,414.

As of Wednesday, 7,080 Covid patients are in hospital and 745 are on ventilation.

Wales

There were 3,292 more positive Covid tests in Wales, bringing the total number of infections to 570,288.

Meanwhile, 10 more Covid-related deaths were recorded. Wales has a Covid death toll of 6,535.

346 patients were in hospital with Covid, authorities reported - 31 of whom were on ventilation beds.

Scotland

Authorities in Scotland reported 6,215 new Covid infections and 11 more deaths related to the virus.

There were also 536 Covid patients in hospital on Wednesday - 40 were on ventilation beds.

Scotland has had a total of 824,088 coronavirus infections since the start of last year and 9,812 Covid-related deaths.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, 3,227 more Covid cases were reported and one more death.

Meanwhile, 254 coronavirus patients were in hospital on Wednesday. 26 were on ventilation beds.

The nation has had a total of 363,895 infections and 2,959 deaths related to the virus.