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In the individual breakdown of the figures, Northern Ireland reported a further 973 cases according to the country’s Department of Health. In Wales, there were a further 1,644 cases in the country taking the overall figure to 176,056 cases. In Scotland, First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon reported a further 1,707 cases in the last 24 hours while a further 64 deaths were also recorded north of the border.
Public Health England was experiencing delays in publishing its data on Thursday afternoon, leading to a postponement of statistics on COVID-19-related deaths in the UK.
It comes amid fears of a new variant of COVID-19 coming from Brazil with Boris Johnson admitting on Wednesday the new strain was concerning.
As a result of the mutation, the UK has banned flights from South America in a bid to contain the spread of the virus – this will come into effect from 4am on Friday morning.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that Chile, Madeira and the Azores will be removed from the travel corridors and Qatar and the Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba will also lose their exemption to the 10-day quarantine period.
Covid deaths latest (Image: GETTY)
Coronavirus: Matt Hancock expressed his concern over the new variant (Image: PA)
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital in England stood at a record 32,925 as of 8am on Thursday January 14, NHS England said.
The figure is up 17 percent on a week ago, and up 86 percent since Christmas Day.
In London, the number stands at a record 7,840 patients, up 8 percent in a week, while in the Midlands the number is 5,799, also a record, up 28 percent.
South-east England has 5,487 patients, up 9 percent; eastern England has 4,303, up 11 percent; north-west England has a record 3,912, up 26 percent; north-east England/Yorkshire has 3,455, up 18 percent; and south-west England has a record 2,129, up 37 percent.
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Coronavirus: The UK has pushed forward with its vaccination policy (Image: PA)
The number of new cases of COVID-19 was not as high as in previous weeks, where the figure surpassed 50,000.
The UK currently estimates the secondhand infection rate between 1 to 1.4, although experts have insisted it must be kept below one in order to stop the virus spreading.
The high case rate in the UK has been driven by the new strain of the virus which was focused in the South East of England and London.
Councils and boroughs in both are now reporting some of the highest case rates across the country.
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Coronavirus: The UK has now banned travel from Brazil (Image: GETTY)
Coronavirus: Boris Johnson issued his concern over the new strain (Image: GETTY)
Barking and Dagenham are now reporting two of the highest infection rates in the country with 1,207 and 1,136 respectively.
According to figures from the London Assembly, for the week ending January 8, London is now reporting a case rate of 1,047 per 100,000.
The whole of England registered a case rate of 655 per 100,000, leading to Sadiq Khan to demand tougher restrictions this week.
As of January 12, hospitalisation also rose to 7,606 in the capital, a rise from the 6,816 the previous week.
UK vaccines (Image: Express)
Due to this, some NHS trusts have declared they are nearing full capacity and may now be able to cope with a further influx of patients in the coming weeks.
With case numbers being so high, the Government has made it a priority to ramp up its vaccination strategy.
Coronavirus: London hospitals have seen case number rise (Image: GETTY)
As of January 12, the UK had vaccinated 2,639,309 people with a first dose.
It is hoped by the end of January, everyone in England will be within 10 miles of a vaccination site.
The Government also hopes to reach a target of two million vaccinations a week by the end of this month.
— to www.express.co.uk
