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Covid cases in the UK see biggest rise yet as 26,688 people test positive and 191 more deaths recorded
THE UK has seen the biggest ever rise in daily coronavirus cases today, with 26,688 people testing positive in the past 24 hours.
It comes as 191 more people have died from the virus - taking the grim toll to 44,158.
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The UK has now seen 789,220 positive cases since the pandemic began.
Last Wednesday the Department of Health recorded 19,722 new daily cases.
Another 94 people died in hospital in England between October 14 and 20, it was confirmed today.
This brings the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 31,275, NHS England said.
Patients were aged between 49 and 97. All but one, aged 71, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths were between October 14 and 20.
It comes as:
- Greater Manchester will go into tier three from 12.01am on Friday, and today the PM confirmed the area will get the extra £60million in cash
- The PM said he was left with no choice but to impose the measures to “save lives” as local hospitals were filling up with Covid patients
- Last night, Matt Hancock the Health Secretary warned further measures could be needed in Nottinghamshire - and West Yorkshire could also follow
- Teesside and the North East will not move into the top tier yet despite being in discussions with the Government because there are "early signs" that cases are "starting to flatten"
Wales has seen 962 cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 38,361.
Public Health Wales said 14 further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic rising to 1,736.
Scotland has recorded 28 deaths from coronavirus and 1,739 positive tests in the past 24 hours.
Nicola Sturgeon said this is the highest number of fatalities since May 21.
Government adviser Professor John Edmunds said the three tier lockdown system implemented by the government will only slow the spread of the virus and will not shrink it.
Prof Edmunds said that the health service in the north will already be under strain in the next few weeks due to current conditions.
"Even if we stopped things now, cases and hospitalisations would continue to go up for the next 10 days [or] two weeks because they’re already baked into the system.
"They've already been infected but it will take some time to be hospitalised – and the same goes for deaths.
"We’ll see peaks around Christmas and the New Year of very severe numbers of cases throughout the UK. It’s slower and lower in the South West and South East than in the more urban centres."
It comes as another English region is plunged into a Tier 3 lockdown from Saturday - with Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley facing tougher rules after a £41million deal.
Around 1.4million people will go into extra restrictions, Sheffield's Mayor Dan Jarvis announced today, as not acting was "not an option".
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Today Boris Johnson said there was some encouraging signs that "areas which have gone into tier 3 are already making progress" in bringing cases down.
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Yesterday saw another 21,331 infections reported - the second highest daily rise ever.
The figure has only been beaten once before on October 4 when 22,961 infections were logged - and even this was down to an IT glitch which caused a delay in reporting.
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Dramatic heat maps show how coronavirus cases are spreading rapidly across all ages – especially in North
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