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The UK has recorded 55,892 new Covid-19 cases and 964 deaths within 28 days of a positive test for the virus, according to official data.
Yesterday’s data had shown 50,023 new coronavirus infections and 981 deaths.
Meanwhile, millions of people in England are ending the year under the most severe coronavirus restrictions.
More than three-quarters of the country’s population is ordered to stay home, as swaths of the country plunged into Level 4 (the highest level of restrictions in the UK) overnight.
Another 22 million people in parts of the Northeast, Northwest, Southwest and Midlands have been subjected to lockdown measures in an attempt to control infections.
People were warned to ring in the New Year by staying home and not mingling, and NHS England National Medical Director Professor Stephen Powis said: “Covid loves the crowd.”
Hospitals continue to face pressure, with the number of Covid-19 patients in England surpassing the peak of April’s first wave.
The new restrictions mean that a total of 44 million people, or 78% of England’s population, are now at Level 4, where non-essential shops, as well as gyms, cinemas, casinos and hairdressers, must remain. closed.
Individuals are also limited to meeting another person from another household in a public outdoor space and must not leave their Level 4 area except for legally permitted reasons such as medical appointments.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK must redouble its efforts to combat the coronavirus and that “no one regrets these measures more than I do,” but insisted “strong” action is needed to control the pandemic.
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According to the Department of Health, between December 18 and 24, the weekly rate of Covid-19 cases in England rose to 402.6 per 100,000, 32% more than the previous week.
Some 14,915 patients have been admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the past week, an 18% increase from the previous week.
There were 55,226 new daily symptomatic cases of Covid-19 in the UK on average over the two weeks to December 26, not including nursing homes, according to the Zoe Covid Symptom Study UK Infection Survey.
The survey figures, based on swab test data from up to five days ago, suggest that Wales, London and southern England remain the main drivers of the UK’s high daily new cases, the researchers said.
But Professor Tim Spector, the study’s lead scientist and professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, said that children show the smallest increase in infections of any age group and that “closing schools is a bad idea and not enough It is likely to have a major impact in new cases, but it will have long-term consequences for children. “
The reopening of secondary schools in England will be delayed until the end of January, and in some of the areas hardest hit by Covid-19, primary school pupils will also not return to their desks as planned next week.
Colleges are being asked to reduce the number of students returning to campus from the beginning of next month, and those returning should be offered two rapid coronavirus tests.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he is “absolutely certain” that there will be no further delays in reopening schools.
It was moved to reassure teaching staff, students and parents that the recently rescheduled staggered return dates for England will remain in place.
The government announced yesterday that primary school students in some of the areas most affected by Covid-19 will not return to their desks as planned next week, and students in exam years will return to secondary schools a week later than scheduled, starting January 11. Other high school and college students will return full time on January 18.
The vast majority of elementary schools will return on January 4 as planned.
The British Medical Association (BMA) warned that the NHS “will fight to get patients who need urgent care, the care they need” if the trajectory of rising infections continues.
An intensive care doctor said that the situation in intensive care units in England is currently “quite dire”.
Dr Zudin Puthucheary from the Society for Intensive Care, who also works at the Royal London Hospital, said that “large numbers of patients” are “arriving quickly” and that numbers are increasing in “all hospitals” and said that the staff is “raggedy because” I’ve been doing this all the time, they’ve been doing it since March. “
Johnson said the government was “working as hard and as fast as we can” to get the recently approved vaccine from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca to people.
The Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) gave the green light to the vaccine yesterday and 530,000 doses are expected to be available for deployment starting Monday.
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