Covid cases in England hit new record high of 162,572 | Coronavirus
England reported a record high daily total of 162,572 new cases on Saturday, up from 160,276 the previous day, official data showed..
The government said a further 154 people had died in England within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 174,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The data normally also includes Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but did not on Saturday because of differences in reporting schedules over the new year weekend.
The figures come as the health secretary, Sajid Javid, said further restrictions in England must be a “last resort” and that the UK must prepare to “live alongside” coronavirus in 2022.
But he said the record-breaking wave of the Omicron Covid variant would “test the limits of finite NHS capacity even more than a typical winter”.
It came as an NHS leader warned the next few days would be crucial in the fight to reduce the impact of the Omicron variant.
Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents health trusts, said staff were working “flat out” and that the NHS was under “arguably more pressure” than this time last year.
In a thread on Twitter, he wrote: “NHS preparing for worst & hoping for best. Staff flat out, esp. given level of staff absences. We will need to ask them to perform flexible heroics again if hospital Covid numbers continue to rise.
“We can’t keep doing this. Long-term NHS capacity issues must be addressed.”
He said the booster vaccination campaign was “significantly more resource-intensive”, and staff absences meant the NHS was “beyond full stretch”.
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