CORONAVIRUS: A RECORD 1,610 DAILY DEATHS

A RECORD 1,610 people have been added to the coronavirus death toll – the highest daily figure of the pandemic so far.

The total, which outstripped the previous record of 1,564 last Wednesday, brings the total number of people to have died in the UK within 28 days of a postive test to more than 90,000.

However, the number of people testing positive fell for the fourth day in a row yesterday to 33,355 – down from 68,000 on January 8.

Intensive care bosses warned services are ‘already overwhelmed’ by record patient numbers as NHS England revealed 400 military personnel are helping to keep them functioning in London and the Midlands.

Dr Alison Pittard, dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, said: ‘There are staff who are almost on their knees, having been going through this non-stop for months and months and months. We’re nowhere near out of this at the moment and I am really concerned.’

It is now believed at least one in eight people in England – about 5.4million – has been infected during the pandemic, up from one in 11 in November.

The Office for National Statistics survey of those with antibodies until December found the highest rates in Yorkshire and the Humber at 17 per cent, and in London at 16.4 per cent.

Another million people have tested positive since the start of January and other surveys have put the figure as high as 30 per cent in London.

Meanwhile, the number of people with Covid-19 recorded on their death certificates – another way of counting fatalities – nearly doubled in the first week of January to 99,813, according to the ONS. The total now is believed to be 108,457.