Covid: UK deaths up by nearly 1,000 as new cases rise by more than 50,000

Latest figures come as government extended tier 4 restrictions to cover three-quarters of England's population

A further 981 people in the UK have died after testing positive for Covid-19, the latest figures show, as the government announced that it would be expanding its nationwide coronavirus restrictions.

This is the highest daily total reported since 24 April, when 1,010 fatalities were recorded, and brings the national total to 72,548, or 88,000 where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate.

An additional 50,023 new cases were recorded on Wednesday, the Department for Health and Social Care said. A total of 2,432,888 people have now been infected in the UK since the start of the pandemic.

The new figures come as the government extended its tier 4 restrictions to cover three-quarters of England's population. The measures, which ban household mixing and restrict restaurants and bars to takeaway, will now be enforced across large pockets of central, northern and southwest England.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said the restrictions were necessary to curb the spread of the new, highly contagious variant of coronavirus, which is driving the recent surge in infections and hospital admissions throughout the UK.

Wednesday’s figures were expected to include some deaths and infections that were not reported over Christmas, when a number of the UK’s health bodies paused their daily data collation.

As the current coronavirus wave continues to intensify, health leaders have warned that the NHS is being pushed to the brink.

Hospitals in the worst-hit areas of London and southern England are becoming increasingly overstretched, with ambulances unable to unload patients at some hospitals where all the beds are occupied. 

And there are now more people in hospitals with Covid-19 than at the first peak of the outbreak in April.

The DHSC said on Wednesday that a further 2,430 patients had been admitted to hospital with Covid-19, bringing the UK total to 23,771.

Meanwhile, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved for use the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca.

Doses of the vaccine will be available for rollout from Monday, the government said.