Highest single-day number of Covid-19 cases in UK recorded

The UK recording the highest single-day figure of coronavirus cases since the outbreak began has been described as a “stark warning” by a top public health official.

As of 9am yesterday, there had been a further 6,634 labconfirmed cases of Covid-19 across the four nations, taking the overall number of cases confirmed to 416,363.

The UK government also said a further 40 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday, bringing the UK’S total deaths to 41,902.

In Scotland, 465 people have tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours, the second highest daily total since the pandemic began, and two more Covid -19 deaths have been recorded.

Announcing the figures at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament, Nicola Sturgeon said 25,960 people have now tested positive overall and 2,510 have died after being confirmed to have Covid-19.

The rise in cases follows a record increase of 486 on Wednesday and a tightening of lockdown restrictions across the country.

The R number in Scotland – the average number of other people infected with the virus by each person with Covid-19 – could now possibly be as high as 1.6, Ms Sturgeon said.

A further 348 cases were recorded in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 21,896.

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.

Testing capacity has greatly increased since then. But Professor Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public Health England, said the rise in new cases across the UK provides a “clear” signal and insisted people must follow the stricter measures announced this week in order to help control the virus.

She said: “This is the highest number recorded and a stark warning for us all. The signals are clear.

“We must all follow the new measures that have been brought in to help control the virus and download the new NHS Covid-19 app which is the fastest way of knowing when you’re at risk.”

The a pp for England and Wales was launched yesterday. Scotland and Northern Ireland already have their own apps running.