Britain records 830 Covid deaths as fatalities DOUBLE week-on-week as UK posts ANOTHER daily high of 60,916 cases
Today’s deaths mark a 107.7 per cent rise on 414 victims announced last Tuesday, with 76,000 deaths in total
Meanwhile daily infections have risen by 14.6% from the 53,135 reported a week ago, with almost 2.8m total
Boris is to hold a press conference at 5pm with medical and science chiefs Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance
By Stephen Matthews Health Editor For Mailonline
Published: 03:37 AEDT, 6 January 2021 | Updated: 05:30 AEDT, 6 January 2021
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Britain today recorded another 830 Covid deaths as official statistics show the number of daily deaths has more than doubled week-on-week.
Department of Health bosses also posted another record-high number of daily cases, with 60,916 new infections added to the ever-growing toll.
Today’s deaths mark a 107.7 per cent rise on the 414 victims announced last Tuesday, which are likely to have been affected by a recording lag over the Christmas weekend. While daily infections have risen by 14.6 per cent from the 53,135 reported a week ago.
The figures were released just half-an-hour before Boris Johnson faced the nation and revealed that one in 50 of the population of England – around a million people – are infected with coronavirus as he said 1.3million people have now been vaccinated.
The PM told a Downing Street briefing that the spread of the mutant version of the disease had made lockdown impossible to avoid. But he insisted the measures can get the situation under control while vaccines are rolled out – dismissing anxiety that he is ‘over-promising’ by claiming the most vulnerable categories can be given jabs by mid-February.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director for Public Health England, warned the ‘highly concerning’ rise in cases — which is up 14.6 per cent on last Tuesday’s figure — ‘will mean yet more pressure on our health services in the depths of winter’.
She added: ‘That is why if we can, we must stay at home, reduce contacts and do everything possible to break the spread of this virus. It is by no means easy, but now more than ever we must all do our part to protect the NHS and save lives.’
As England gets used to the idea of a third national lockdown and months more coronavirus chaos:
Rishi Sunak today announced another £4.6billion of bailouts for lockdown-stricken businesses as economists warned of the ‘colossal’ hit from the surging pandemic;
Arrivals at UK borders are set to have to show they have tested negative for Covid in the last 72 hours in another major U-turn from government;
Police have warned that enforcing the lockdown will be difficult with large numbers of officers already off sick or self-isolating;
Scientists have warned that even the new tough measures might not be enough to contain the mutant coronavirus strain;
Leaked documents released today show how five days of ‘liberty’ ruined the second England-wide lockdown in November;
Streets and city centres were quiet as Britons digested the new restrictions being placed on their lives;
Hundreds of medical professionals have called for hospital staff to be given higher grade personal protective equipment (PPE) amid growing concern over airborne transmission of coronavirus.
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