Coronavirus UK: England records 32,725 cases and 570 deaths on Christmas Day

England has recorded 32,725 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, according to the latest figures, as festive bubbles were cancelled for millions.   

Nationwide figures weren’t released today as the devolved nations’ tallies aren’t counted on the Government dashboard over Christmas.

The infections announced today means there has been a 14 per cent increase in cases in a week even without the full figures. 

But in England 570 deaths were recorded – bringing the national tally since March up to 70,195. 

Last week, Christmas was cancelled for millions of people living in London, the south-east of England and Wales after Boris Johnson announced a new lockdown. 

In hospitals around England 401 patients died of coronavirus on Christmas Day. The grim figure, which is for Covid-related hospital deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, compares to 317 a week ago. 

None of the deaths were under 40 years old and all but 14 had underlying health conditions, according to the latest data.

There were another 33 deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the person’s death certificate. It means the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals now stands at 48,150 people.   

The 32,725 coronavirus cases announced today in England are up by 14 per cent on the 28,507 confirmed last Friday.  

The figures for December 25 are just for England, as the devolved nation’s statistics haven’t been included in the Government dashboard over Christmas

The number of people with coronavirus in England last week spiked to pre-second lockdown levels with almost 646,000 people carrying the illness

Northern Ireland did not update its death figures yesterday. They will not be resumed until December 28. There will be no data for Wales on December 25 or January 1.

Similarly in Scotland, death figures will not be updated today through to December 28. There will also be no figures between January 1 and January 4.

Yesterday, more than 1,000 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in Scotland as measures were eased for Christmas.

A total of 1,165 new cases were reported by the Scottish Government in the past 24 hours, new figures have shown.

The number is 4.3 per cent of all tests undertaken during that period, down from 5.3% the day before.

In total, 118,035 cases have been reported in Scotland since the beginning of the pandemic.   

During the holiday period, the COVID-19 Dashboard, which publishes data on coronavirus cases and deaths, is only uploading tallies for England on a daily basis. 

The latest figure comes as a new strain of coronavirus grips south-east England. The strain is thought to be better at spreading, but is not yet thought to be more deadly.

One in every 85 people in England are now infected with coronavirus, half of them have caught the new super-infectious strain and cases in London have trebled in two weeks. 

But Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows the epidemic is being driven by southern regions, where the variant has become the dominant strain, with cases still falling of flattening in the North and Midlands, where it is yet to become widespread.  

Officials fear, however, it is only a matter of time before the mutant variant – which is up to 56 per cent more infectious than regular Covid and was first detected in Kent in September – becomes prevalent everywhere.

It became the country’s dominant strain by the beginning of November, research shows. 

About two-thirds of people testing positive in London, the East and the South East, are thought to have the new variant, the ONS said. Nationally, the strain is thought to make up 50 per cent of infections.    

Viruses mutate regularly, and scientists have found thousands different of mutations among samples of the virus causing Covid-19. 

But many of these changes have no effect on how easily the virus spreads or how severe symptoms are.  

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister made the surprise announcement on December 19 that a new ‘Tier 4’ was to be introduced from midnight, effectively cancelling Christmas for a third of the country due to fears about the Kent strain. 

It shuttered non-essential retail, gyms, cinemas, hairdressers and bowling alleys – while people are restricted to meeting one other person from another household in an outdoor public space.

It meant thousands of Britons had to cancel their Christmas Day plans, because meeting in a bubble was no longer allowed. 

Speaking to a Downing Street news conference, Boris Johnson announced the new measures ‘with a heavy heart’.

He said: ‘I know how much emotion people invest in this time of year, and how important it is, for instance, for grandparents to see their grandchildren, for families to be together.

‘So I know how disappointing this will be. But we have said throughout this pandemic that we must and we will be guided by the science.

‘When the science changes, we must change our response.’ 

In a further blow for Brits hoping for some sort of normality in the future, Matt Hancock announced on Wednesday a second mutated variant of coronavirus has already been found in London and North West England after being brought to the UK from South Africa.  

Ministers fear this variant, known as 501Y.V2, is even more infectious than the one found in Kent that has been behind a recent explosion of coronavirus infections in the East, South East and London.

Mr Hancock revealed two cases of the South African variant have been detected so far in England in contacts of people who had travelled back from the country in recent weeks. 

The cases had no link between them, with one in London and the other in the North West of England, MailOnline understands, and the links to South Africa were discovered on Tuesday. 

Matt Hancock revealed two cases of the South African variant of the virus — called 501.V2 — have been detected so far in contacts of people who’d travelled back from the country in recent weeks

 

Mr Hancock said the discovery of the variant in the UK was ‘highly concerning’ and revealed ‘immediate restrictions’ were being imposed on travel to and from South Africa. 

Those who have arrived from the country in the last fortnight are being urged to quarantine for two weeks. 

He made the announcement as he plunged millions more people in the South East of England into Tier Four, with the measures kicking in at midnight on Christmas Day.   

West Sussex and the parts of East Sussex, Essex, Surrey and Hampshire not already in the top tier will enter Tier 4 from a minute past midnight on Boxing Day, with the exception of the New Forest. They will be joined by Oxfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Swindon, the Isle of Wight, the New Forest and Northamptonshire will go from Tier 2 to Tier 3, as will Cheshire and Warrington. And Cornwall and Herefordshire will enter Tier 2, meaning no parts of England will be in the lowest Tier 1.

As Britain’s crisis worsens, SAGE experts revealed the coronavirus R rate in Britain has risen to between 1.1 and 1.3 due to the Kent variant of coronavirus. 

The strain is spreading fastest in London and the East of England, where the R could be as high as a shocking 1.5, and it is at least one or higher in every region of England except the North East and North West.  

The Prime Minister has refused to rule out a third national lockdown during a press conference after a Sage model warns Britain needs to increase vaccination rate to avoid deaths from mutated Kent coronavirus

Yesterday, Boris Johnson refused to rule out a third national lockdown after a Sage model warned that Britain needs to increase their vaccination rates to avoid deaths from the mutated Kent coronavirus. 

He warned people that it will ‘continue to be difficult’ because of the new strain of Covid-19. 

During a press conference, Mr Johnson said: ‘We believe that we’re going to have to get through this tough period now with, as I have said many times, very tough restrictions, with tough tiering.

‘As much as I regret that, I do think it is necessary for us to grip this virus now to stop it running out of control in January. 

‘We need to buy ourselves time to get the vaccine into as many arms of the elderly and vulnerable as we can.’