More than 1,000 coronavirus deaths have been confirmed in the UK in the highest daily reported figure since April.
The government said a further 1,041 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday.
It is the highest daily reported total since April 21st, when 1,224 deaths were recorded.
It brings the total number of coronavirus deaths in the UK to 77,346, although separate figures published by statistics agencies and additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days show there have now been 93,000 deaths involving Covid-19.
The government’s figures continue to be affected by a lag in the publication of recent data and will contain some deaths that took place over the Christmas and New Year period that have only just been reported.
The government also said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 62,322 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, the highest daily total reported in the pandemic so far and a slight increase on Tuesday’s figure of 60,916.
It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 2,836,801.
The number of cases coincides with higher testing figures compared to the first wave of the pandemic, with 498,624 tests conducted on Tuesday.
