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UK coronavirus cases set new daily record, prompting 'extreme concern'

Tuesday, 29 December 2020 10:43 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 29 December 2020 10:43 PM ]

A pedestrian, wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walks past Coronavirus information signs in Walthamstow in north east London on December 23, 2020. (Photo by AFP)

Britain's government reported 53,135 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, the highest number since mass testing started in mid-2020 and up sharply from the previous record of 41,385 set on Monday.

The number of new deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID test also rose to 414 from Monday's 357, taking the total since the start of the pandemic to 71,567.

Britain vies with Italy for Europe's highest death toll from the disease and is now battling a new variant of COVID which scientists say can spread more rapidly.

Susan Hopkins, a senior medical advisor to Public Health England, said the high infection rates were "of extreme concern" as hospitals were at their most vulnerable.

Earlier on Tuesday a leading epidemiologist who advises the government, Andrew Hayward, warned that Britain was heading for "catastrophe" over the coming weeks if it did not take tougher action against the more infectious variant of the disease.

(Source: Reuters)

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