The UK recorded 1,610 deaths related to the CCP virus on Tuesday, the highest daily death toll since the pandemic began last spring.
According to newly released official data from Public Health England, a further 1,610 people died within 28 days of a positive CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus test, taking the total UK death toll above 90,000.
There have been 33,355 new cases within the latest 24-hour period, according to official figures.
Also on Tuesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he is self-isolating after receiving a warning from the National Health Service’s (NHS) official mobile phone app that he may have been in contact with someone who tested positive for the CCP virus.
New analysis published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that roughly one in eight people had antibodies to the CCP virus in England in December.
Infection rates in England peaked at the start of January, when over 1 in 50 people had the virus, but have been falling since.
However, along with hospitalisations, CCP virus deaths—which lag behind infections by around three weeks—appear to still be rising.
Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS in England, said on Sunday that the NHS is struggling more amid the CCP virus pandemic than it has in its 72-year history.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr program that hospitals across the country continue to fill up with COVID-19 patients and “staggeringly” another person is admitted with symptoms “every 30 seconds.”
Official data released on Tuesday also shows a total of 4,266,577 people have now received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
But there are fears that new variants of the CCP virus may reduce the effectiveness of the vaccines.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said last Friday that the government had to further tighten travel restrictions by closing all its “travel corridors” with other countries, in order to protect the country against “the risk of as yet unidentified new strains” coming from overseas which might turn out to be resistant to vaccines.
The measure, which came into force at 4 a.m. local time on Monday, means all passengers must have a recent negative CCP virus test and transfer immediately into isolation upon arrival. The isolation period lasts for ten days, unless the passenger tests negative after five days.
Simon Veazey and Mary Clark contributed to this report.
