The United Kingdom has reported over 400,000 new COVID-19 cases within the last 48 hours and approximately 334 deaths within the past 24 hours.
This was confirmed by several UK-based media sites which reported on Tuesday January 4 that a total 218,724 new infections were registered in the UK, while on Wednesday January 5, some 194,747 new cases were recorded.
According to reports, the 334 deaths is the highest reported since March 2, 2021, and includes a backlog of some data from England’s National Health Service dating back to New Year’s Day.
As stated by the UK government’s dashboard, the latest count of people in hospital in the UK with COVID-19 is now 17,276, with 911 requiring ventilation beds.
The health authorities say while the present hospitalisation figure is well below the near 40,000 of January 2021, there are fears the numbers could grow substantially over the next few weeks as the record case numbers continue to increase with new admissions.
Meanwhile, in a subsequent media release by the UK’s Office for National Statistics, it estimated that 3.7 million people in the UK had COVID-19 in the last week of 2021.
In England, it was an estimated one in 15 people with COVID while in London one in 10.