Covid-19: UK sees highest daily toll of 1,325 deaths

A further 1,325 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test - the biggest figure reported on any day since the pandemic began.

It means there have been just short of 80,000 deaths by that measure - as another 68,053 new cases were recorded.

Public Health England (PHE) said the number of deaths would "continue to rise until we stop the spread".

It comes as the government launches a new campaign in England urging people to "act like you've got" the virus.

The adverts, fronted by England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty, are intended to remind the public Covid is spreading fast, with large numbers showing no symptoms.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, and infection rates across the entire country continue to soar at an alarming rate."

It comes as a third Covid vaccine received emergency approval for use in the UK with 17 million doses of the jab, made by US firm Moderna, pre-ordered by the UK.

The vaccine joins the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs in being approved, with close to 1.5 million people now vaccinated in the UK.

Dr William Welfare, Covid-19 response director at PHE, said: "Each life lost to this virus is a tragedy, but sadly we can expect the death toll to continue to rise until we stop the spread.

"Approximately one in three people who have coronavirus have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it.

"To protect our loved ones it is essential we all stay at home where possible. This will reduce new infections, ease the pressure on the NHS and save lives."

Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the spread of Covid in the capital was now "out of control", as he declared a "major incident".

This means the emergency services and hospitals cannot guarantee their normal level of response, and allows special arrangements to be implemented.

The previous highest daily death toll - 1,224 - was recorded on 21 April 2020 during the UK's first lockdown. Daily deaths were in the single figures as recently as September.

We are now seeing the record numbers of cases over the Christmas period translate into record numbers of deaths.

And with new infections thought to be at more than 150,000 a day, these tragic numbers are set to continue for some time.

More than 1.1 million people in England were estimated to be infected with Covid-19 last week, nearly double from the previous survey just before Christmas.

Cases are rising rapidly because of the new variant form of the virus which is thought to be between 30-70% more transmissible.

Scientists believe tier four restrictions imposed in December may have helped.

In the two previous lockdowns in England cases fell sharply but the new variant means this is unlikely to happen this time around.

Vaccines should help reduce both deaths and hospitalisations in the coming weeks.

The advent of better weather in the spring should also help cases fall further.

Yet with the virus now with us forever, ministers will have to decide what level of risk - and deaths - society is prepared to tolerate.

Friday's data also showed 31,624 coronavirus patients were in UK hospitals on Wednesday, 46% above the peak during the first wave last year.

And 619,941 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 09:00 GMT - also a new record.

England, much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland continue to be under strict national measures, with stay-at-home orders in place for most people.

The R number - the rate at which an infected person passes on the virus to someone else - is now estimated to be between 1.0 to 1.4, meaning the epidemic is growing between 0% and 6% per day.

Covid infections rose by almost a third between Boxing Day and 3 January, reaching 70,000 new cases a day according to a major study.

In a different piece of research, an estimated 1.2 million people in total had Covid over a similar time period, the Office for National Statistics said.

Boris Johnson pledged on Thursday to use England's lockdown to implement an "unprecedented national effort" to offer vaccination to those at the highest risk from Covid by 15 February.

He said the Army would be drafted in to use "battle preparation techniques" to achieve the goal, which could see up to 15 million people offered a vaccine by the middle of next month.

In another development, from next week all travellers to the UK will need to show a recent negative test result before they arrive.

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