Covid cases have continued to surge across the UK with over 183,000 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours.
The figures released by the government on Wednesday afternoon set a new record for the pandemic, breaking the one set yesterday by over 50,000.
The numbers include several days worth of figures from Northern Ireland, which were backlogged over the holiday – but still set a record without them.
The government said a further 57 people have died within 28 days of a positive test, bringing the rolling seven-day total to 516.
Boris Johnson warned this morning that the more infectious Omicron variant was causing significant problems, but has so far resisted imposing new social distancing measures ahead of New Year.
The variant is thought by scientists to be milder than previous incarnations of the virus, but it is not clear exactly to what extent – or how many of the record number of people being infected will end up in hospital or dying.
Ministers are focusing on their Covid booster programme, which they hope will head off the surge and prevent deaths and serious illness. Mr Johnson said this morning that in some wards as many as 90 per cent of people in intensive care were unvaccinated.
No new restrictions were imposed over the Christmas period, with people free to see their families but the government urging caution.
NHS England separately reported on Wednesday afternoon that there were 1,751 Covid-19 hospital admissions in England on December 27 – up 65 per cent week-on-week and the highest number since February 5.
During the second wave of coronavirus, admissions peaked at 4,134 on January 12.
UK news in pictures
Show all 50
UK news in pictures
28 December 2021
Troops of the Household Cavalry are seen reflected in a puddle during the changing of the Queen’s Life Guard, on Horse Guards Parade, in central London
PA
UK news in pictures
27 December 2021
A pedestrian walks past a winter sale sign outside a John Lewis store on Oxford street in London
Getty
UK news in pictures
26 December 2021
Riders take their bikes through the snow near Castleside, County Durham
PA
UK news in pictures
25 December 2021
Patrick Corkery wears a santa hat and beard as waves crash over him at Forty Foot near Dublin during a Christmas Day dip
PA
UK news in pictures
24 December 2021
People stand inside Kings Cross Station on Christmas Eve in London
Reuters
UK news in pictures
23 December 2021
Christmas shoppers fill the car park at Fosse Shopping Park in Leicester
PA
UK news in pictures
22 December 2021
The sun rises behind the stones as people gather for the winter solstice at Stonehenge.
Getty
UK news in pictures
21 December 2021
People take part in a winter solstice swim at Portobello Beach in Edinburgh to mark the solstice and to witness the dawn after the longest night of the year
PA
UK news in pictures
20 December 2021
An auction employee displays poultry to buyers and sellers attending the Christmas Poultry Sale at York Auction Centre in Murton
PA
UK news in pictures
19 December 2021
Joao Moutinho of Wolverhampton Wanderers looks on during the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Chelsea at Molineux
Getty Images
UK news in pictures
18 December 2021
Freight lorries queuing at the port of Dover in Kent
PA
UK news in pictures
17 December 2021
Newly elected Liberal Democrat MP Helen Morgan, bursts ‘Boris’ bubble’ held by colleague Tim Farron, as she celebrates following her victory in the North Shropshire by-election
PA
UK news in pictures
16 December 2021
Brussels sprouts are harvested by workers as they prepare for the busy Christmas period near Boston in Lincolnshire
PA
UK news in pictures
15 December 2021
Lewis Hamilton is made a Knight Bachelor by the Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle
PA
UK news in pictures
14 December 2021
The Royal Liver Buildings surrounded by early morning fog in Liverpool
PA
UK news in pictures
13 December 2021
People queue outside a walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centre at St Thomas’s Hospital in Westminster
Getty Images
UK news in pictures
12 December 2021
People take part in the Big Leeds Santa Dash in Roundhay Park, Leeds
PA
UK news in pictures
11 December 2021
People arrive at a Covid-19 vaccination centre at Elland Road in Leeds,
PA
UK news in pictures
10 December 2021
Stella Moris speaks to the media after the US Government won its High Court bid to overturn a judge’s decision not to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
PA
UK news in pictures
9 December 2021
Camels are lead around Salisbury Cathedral during a rehearsal for the Christmas Eve Service
PA
UK news in pictures
8 December 2021
Margaret Keenan and Nurse May Parsons, a year after Margaret was the first person in the UK to receive the Pfizer vaccine
PA
UK news in pictures
7 December 2021
Snowfall in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire as Storm Barra hits the UK with disruptive winds, heavy rain and snow
PA
UK news in pictures
6 December 2021
A person tries to avoid sea spray on New Brighton promenade in Wallasey as the UK readies for the arrival of Storm Barra
Getty
UK news in pictures
5 December 2021
People release balloons during a tribute to six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes outside Emma Tustin’s former address in Solihull, West Midlands, where he was murdered by his stepmother
PA
UK news in pictures
4 December 2021
People walk through a Christmas market in Trafalgar Square
Reuters
UK news in pictures
3 December 2021
A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
2 December 2021
Duchess of Cambridge inspects a Faberge egg at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Getty
UK news in pictures
1 December 2021
Meerkats at London Zoo with an advent calendar
PA
UK news in pictures
30 November 2021
Workers put the finishing touches to the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree ahead of the lighting ceremony later in the week
PA
UK news in pictures
29 November 2021
Home Secretary Priti Patel is greeted by a police dog at a special memorial service for Met Police Sergeant Matiu Ratana
Getty
UK news in pictures
28 November 2021
Riyad Mahrez of Manchester City battles for possession with Aaron Cresswell of West Ham United during a match at the Etihad during snow
Manchester City/Getty
UK news in pictures
27 November 2021
Residents clear branches from a fallen tree in Birkenhead, north west England as “Storm Arwen” triggered a rare “red weather” warning
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures
3 December 2021
An aerial picture shows a worker using a quad bike and trailer to transport freshly harvested trees at Pimms Christmas Tree farm in Matfield, southeast England
AFP via Getty
UK news in pictures
26 November 2021
A shopper browses Christmas trees for sale at Pines and Needles in Dulwich, London
Reuters
UK news in pictures
25 November 2021
A murmuration of hundreds of thousands of starlings fly over a field at dusk in Cumbria, close to the Scottish border
PA
UK news in pictures
3 December 2021
A pedestrian carries a dog as they dodge shoppers on Oxford Street in central London
AFP/Getty
UK news in pictures
24 November 2021
Migrants are helped ashore from a RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) lifeboat at a beach in Dungeness, on the south-east coast of England, on November 24, 2021, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel.
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures
23 November 2021
The coffin of Sir David Amess is carried past politicians, including former Prime Ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the requiem mass for the MP at Westminster Cathedral, central London
PA
UK news in pictures
22 November 2021
The scene in Dragon Rise, Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset where police have launched a murder probe after two people were found dead
Tom Wren/SWNS
UK news in pictures
21 November 2021
London-based midwife Sarah Muggleton, 27, takes part in a ‘March with Midwives’ in central London to highlight the crisis in maternity services
PA
UK news in pictures
20 November 2021
Police officers monitor as climate change activists sit down and block traffic during a protest action in solidarity with activists from the Insulate Britain group who received prison terms for blocking roads, on Lambeth Bridge in central London
AFP via Getty Images
UK news in pictures
19 November 2021
A giant installation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson made from recycled clothing goes on display at Manchester Central, as part of Manchester Art Fair, in a ‘wake-up call for the Prime Minister to tackle textile waste’
PA
UK news in pictures
18 November 2021
The scene at a recycling centre in Stert, near Devizes in Wiltshire after a large blaze was brought under control. The fire broke out on Wednesday night the fire service has said and local residents were advised to keep windows and doors shut due to large amounts of smoke
PA
UK news in pictures
17 November 2021
The sun rises over South Shields Lighthouse, on the North East coast of England
PA
UK news in pictures
16 November 2021
ancer Maithili Vijayakumar at the launch of 2021 Diwali celebrations at St Andrew Square in Edinburgh
PA
UK news in pictures
15 November 2021
Forensic officers work outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital, following a car blast, in Liverpool
Reuters
UK news in pictures
14 November 2021
Wreaths by the Cenotaph after the Remembrance Sunday service in Whitehall, London
PA
UK news in pictures
13 November 2021
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of detainee Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is ending his hunger strike in central London after almost three weeks. Ratcliffe has spent 21 days camped outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in London without food. He began his demonstration on 24 October after his wife lost her latest appeal in Iran, saying his family was “caught in a dispute between two states”
PA
UK news in pictures
12 November 2021
Peter Green protesting outside the Cop26 gates during the official final day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.
PA
UK news in pictures
11 November 2021
Seagulls fly around the statue entitled ‘Tommy’, a first World War soldier by artist Ray Lonsdale at dawn in Seaham, Britain
Reuters
In London, 437 admissions were reported on December 27, up 45 per cent week-on-week and the highest number since January 28. The winter wave peak was 977 on January 6.
According to further separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics there have been a total of 173,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
Mr Johnson told reporters on Wednesday while visiting a vaccine site that 2.4 million eligible double-jabbed people are yet to take up the offer of a booster, adding: “I’m sorry to say this but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care in our hospitals are people who are not boosted.
“I’ve talked to doctors who say the numbers are running up to 90 per cent of people in intensive care who are not boosted.
“If you’re not vaccinated, you’re eight times more likely to get into hospital altogether.
“So, it’s a great thing to do. It’s very, very important. Get boosted for yourself and enjoy (the) New Year sensibly and cautiously.”