[ad_1]
-
See ITV News science editor Tom Clarke’s analysis of the rise in cases
There have been 33,470 new cases of COVID-19 in the UK in the past 24 hours, the highest daily figure since the outbreak began.
The results, as of 9am on Thursday, bring the total number of cases in the UK to 1,290,195.
563 new deaths have also been reported, bringing the total number to 50,928.
Separate figures released by UK statistical agencies for deaths when Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate, along with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show that there have been more than 65,000 related deaths. with the coronavirus in the UK.
Experts previously warned that describing the daily figure as a record could be “misleading” as it is unclear how many people were actually infected during the height of the first wave, due to a lack of community testing at the time.
On Monday, there was a significant spike in Covid cases in the UK, which is not believed to have been linked to massive testing in Liverpool.
What’s behind Thursday’s huge increase in cases?
ITV News resident statistician Professor Jennifer Rogers, vice president of the Royal Statistical Society, said it is too early to tell if this is a trend or a single peak.
She said: “Looking at the case numbers by sample date, it looks like the peak actually happened on Monday and then the numbers have dropped again. There is a difference between the sample date and the report date.
“At the moment, it is too early to see if it is a problem or part of a new trend. Everything else regarding growth and the R number has suggested that things are stabilizing and potentially even starting to slow down.
“I would be very surprised if this were the beginning of something to worry about. Sometimes we have these kinds of spikes in time series data, and one day of spikes is not enough to tell if it is a new trend. Looking at data from Liverpool, it doesn’t seem like it’s because of them.
“In short, I’m not worried at the moment. And we really can’t say that statements like this are the highest number ever because we already know that the numbers in the first wave would probably be even higher than what we see now if we were to testing back then as we are doing now.
ITV News science editor explains more about the spike
England
Another 317 people who tested positive for coronavirus died at a hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 35,640, NHS England said Thursday.
The patients were between 33 and 98 years old. All but nine, ages 48 to 81, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths occurred between October 10 and November 11.
Fourteen other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
Welsh
There have been a further 867 coronavirus cases in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 63,151.
Public Health Wales reported another 34 deaths, bringing the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 2,142.
Scotland
In Scotland, 45 new deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 3,188.
Cases also increased from 1,212 to 77,660.
North Ireland
The Northern Ireland Department of Health said: “548 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours. Sadly, another 15 deaths have been reported.”
