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Another 33,470 people tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, the highest number on record since the pandemic began, according to government figures.
It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,290,195.
On Wednesday, 22,950 people tested positive, while the number of deaths in the UK since the start of the pandemic exceeded 50,000.
The death toll today has yet to be released.
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.
COVID-19 updates live from the UK and around the world
However, 595 more deaths were announced yesterday, the highest number since May 12, bringing the country’s total to 50,365.
The UK now has the highest number of recorded deaths in the European Union.
Tragic stories of coronavirus deaths in the UK have included the oldest known victim, Hilda Churchill, 108, who had survived the Spanish flu pandemic, and the youngest victim; a 13 day old baby.
Meanwhile, the latest figures from Test and trace show that the service only reached 60.4% of the contacts of people who tested positive in coronavirus in the week ending November 4.
This is slightly above the previous week’s figure 59.9%, making it one of the lowest rates since the plan began.
The figures also show that 149,253 people tested positive for COVID-19 at least once in England in the same week – the highest weekly number since the system was launched in May and an 8% increase over the previous week.
However, of the 141,804 people referred to Test and Trace that week, 85% were contacted and asked to provide a list of recent close contacts, the highest weekly percentage since it started, and slightly higher than the previous week. .
