The UK has recorded its highest daily increase in the number of COVID-related deaths of the pandemic, with 1,325 fatalities.
Government figures also show the UK recorded 68,053 new coronavirus cases – the highest daily total of the pandemic so far.
Responding to the announcement, a spokesperson for Public Health England (PHE) said “we can expect the death toll to continue to rise until we stop the spread”.
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Dr William Welfare, director for the COVID-19 response at PHE, urged the public to stay at home where possible and warned that: “Approximately 1 in 3 people who have coronavirus have no symptoms and could be spreading it without realising it.”
The latest death figures continue to be affected by a lag in the publication of some recent data and contain some deaths from over the Christmas and New Year period that have only just been reported.
This is the 12th day since the start of the pandemic that deaths have surpassed 1,000 in the UK.