UK records further 219 Covid deaths as infections soar past 112,000

The UK has logged a further 112,458 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours and the death toll has risen by 219.

The latest figures, released by the Department for Health on Monday afternoon, show a 19 per cent increase in confirmed infections compared to last week.

Last Tuesday (January 25) a total of 94,326 new coronavirus cases were tallied, while the number of deaths recorded was 439.

On Monday, 92,368 new cases and 51 deaths were tallied.

Case numbers have substantially dropped since peaking around New Year’s – with 245,182 cases recorded on January 4.

From Monday the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is now including data on possible reinfections in its Covid-19 dashboard.

The new data metric shows reinfection rates averaged around 1.4 per cent of cases until November 16, 2021, when a spike in infections took place following the emergence of the Omicron variant.

Professor Steven Riley, UKHSA’s Director General of Data and Analytics, said: “Reinfection remained at very low levels until the start of the Omicron wave. It is right that our daily reporting processes reflect how the virus has changed.

“We continue to see downward trends in case numbers and incidence of illness as we work to reduce the impact of the pandemic on our day-to-day lives. With vaccination still a great defence against infection and illness, please get jabbed as soon as possible.”

It comes as UK cases of ‘Stealth Omicron’ have doubled in the last couple of days as a new study found the new Covid variant is 33% more transmissible.

The sub-variant of Omicron, called BA.2, is spreading fast according to latest UK genetic sequencing which identified 4,294 cases as of last Friday (Jan 28).

Known UK cases stood at 1,431 just four days earlier on Monday January 24 before the UK genomic database recorded 1,993 cases on January 26.

Previous estimates had expected a slower UK doubling rate of every five to six days.

It has been dubbed Stealth Omicron because it cannot be flagged up by standard PCR tests, meaning the real number of infections circulating is likely to be much higher.

A new study from Denmark – which is the epicentre for the new subvariant which has become dominant there – suggests it could soon take over from original Omicron, official name BA.1.