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The number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the UK has risen by 60,916 and another 830 people have died, government figures show.
This is the highest daily total of COVID-19 cases ever recorded in the UK and the first time the number has exceeded 60,000.
However, the massive tests were not conducted during the first peak of the pandemic, so it is unclear how many cases were circulating at that time.
Still, both sets of numbers were up from yesterday, when official figures showed an increase of 58,784 cases and 407 deaths, and the positivity rate (the percentage of people who received a positive test result) has been increasing for weeks.
Separately, NHS England has said that another 582 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died at a hospital in England.
Those who died were between 29 and 103 years old. All but 25 of them, aged 56 to 101, had known underlying health problems.
The deaths occurred between Nov.5 and Jan.4, most on or after Jan.1, bringing the total number of coronavirus deaths at the England hospital to 52,395.
Government data also showed that the number of patients admitted to the hospital yesterday was 2,434, bringing the total then to 14,987.
