78k UK records highest ever daily cases
THE UK yesterday recorded the highest daily total of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began and faces “two epidemics on top of one another”, according to one expert.
Professor Chris Whitty, the UK chief medical officer, also warned the Omicron variant taking over from the Delta strain was a “very serious threat”.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson made a renewed plea at a Downing Street press conference for people to “get boosted now” with a third dose of Covid vaccine.
The Prime Minister urged the public to “give Omicron both barrels” as official figures published showed there had been a record 78,610 new cases of coronavirus as of 9am yesterday and that hospitalisations were increasing.
The number of cases is the highest figure announced since mass testing began in summer last year – and surpasses the previous record when 68,053 new cases were reported on January 8.
The number of Omicron cases reported in Scotland jumped by 140 per cent overnight, climbing from 110 new cases on Tuesday to 265 yesterday, nearly doubling Scotland’s cumulative total of confirmed Omicron infections to 561 overnight.
The data, from Public Health Scotland, shows the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board, with 220 cases, and Lanarkshire, with 142 cases remain the worst affected.
The statistics came after the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) chief executive Dr Jenny Harries warned the strain is “probably the most significant threat” since the start of the pandemic.
PM Johnson added that a record 650,000 people had received booster jabs across the UK in one day on Tuesday.
England has reached 45 per cent of adults boosted while Scotland has become the first nation in UK to administer the third vaccination to more than 50 per cent of adult population.
At Downing Street, Prof Whitty echoed guidance issued by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon by advising that people should reduce social contact with their families in the run-up to Christmas.
He said: “I really think that people should be prioritising those things – and only those things – that really matter to them.”
Whitty said his own Christmas may be interrupted by the predicted surge in hospitalisations and a lack of NHS staff.
He said: “We may end up with substantial gaps in rotas.”
Johnson insisted his approach was correct when asked about the rebellion of nearly 100 Conservative MPs against the introduction of Covid restrictions in England.
He said: “I am not going to change the policies of the fastest vaccine roll-out in Europe”.