UK records highest daily jump in coronavirus cases since May 1 as death toll rises by 37
The UK has recorded its highest daily rise in Covid-19 cases since May 1 as a further 37 people died after testing positive for the disease.
The Government said that as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 6,178 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, taking the overall number of cases confirmed to 409,729.
It said a further 37 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday. This brings the UK total to 41,862.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,500 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
It comes after Boris Johnson outlined new restrictions which will be rolled out to curb the spread of Covid-19, including a 10pm curfew on pubs and bars.
On Wednesday, Downing Street said Boris Johnson got advice from “a wide range of scientists” on his latest measures but did not say whether the impact of the curfew had been modelled by Government scientists.
Asked if the curfew was modelled by Sage, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The PM took advice from a wide range of scientists throughout the formulation of the package and that includes the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser, and what has been brought forward is a suite of different measures which, taken in their entirety, we believe will have a significant impact on reducing the rate of infection and bringing the R rate down.”
Pressed if ministers have any evidence that the curfew will be effective, he said: “One thing we have pointed to is the fact that a restriction on opening hours was introduced in Belgium and after that had been put into place they did see a fall in infections.”
Downing Street also insisted that England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance had been involved throughout the process of drawing up the package of measures.
A Times report suggested Prof Whitty warned the package did not go far enough and England is likely to have to follow Scotland in imposing a ban on visiting between households.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said he has seen “no remarks on that”.
“The PM has worked with Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance throughout the process of pulling this package together and it is agreed that, taken as a whole, the package will play a significant role in bringing down the rate of infection,” the spokesman said.
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