Covid: UK records 90,418 new cases in 24 hours

Cases have increased by 44.4 percent in the past week

Members of the public queue to receive a first, second or booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, outside a 24-hour vaccination centre, in north east London on December 18. (AFP via Getty Images)

Another 90,418 cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the UK in the last 24 hours, a slight dip in the number of infections.

93,045 new cases of coronavirus were recorded on Friday.

Cases have increased by 44.4 percent in the last seven days compared to the previous week, according to the latest government data.

Data released showed that deaths within 28 days of a positive test have slightly increased within the last 24 hours - 125 were recorded on Saturday, compared to 111 on Friday.

However there has been a slight drop - of 5.9 percent - in deaths recorded in the last seven days.

As of December 18, over 27million booster and third vaccine doses have been given out in the UK.

740,775 people were boosted in England yesterday.

This comes after 10,059 more Omicron cases were recorded on Saturday - three times as many as the day before.

As of December 16, the total number of people who have died with Omicron in England has now risen from one to seven.

Minutes published on Saturday by the scientific advisory group SAGE predicted that “without intervention beyond those measures already in place (’Plan B’), modelling indicated a peak of at least 3,000 hospital admissions per day in England.”

The minutes continued: “Some scenarios have significantly worse outcomes during the first few months of 2022 but there are many uncertainties.

“If the aim is to reduce the levels of infection in the population and prevent hospitalisations reaching these levels, more stringent measures would need to be implemented very soon.”