COVID-19: UK’s daily count crosses 50,000 mark again

UK: The United Kingdom (UK) is witnessing a fresh surge in daily COVID-19 cases. For more than a week, the country has recorded over 40,000 cases. On Thursday, the daily tally crossed the 50,000-mark with 52,009 people testing positive for the virus, the highest single-day increase since July 17. As many as 115 patients died from related complications, while another 29,000 recovered during the day.

At present, the UK has 14,44,489 active cases, while the cumulative tallies stand at 86,41,221 infections, 139,146 deaths and 70,57,586 recoveries.

On Wednesday, Health Minister Sajid Javid said daily cases in the UK could rise up to 1,00,000, adding the pandemic was not over yet.

Besides the rise in cases, there has also been an increase in the number of hospital admissions. On Thursday, 959 patients were hospitalised, pushing the total number of admissions to over 563,000. Health care facilities are once again on the brink of being overwhelmed ahead of winter.

“Everything is hitting us at once,” Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London said, according to a New York Times report. “We’re in a no man’s land,” Spector, who is leading a major study of Covid-19 symptoms, added.

Despite the increased spread of the virus, the Boris Johnson government has said no fresh restrictions will be reimposed for now. “We are looking closely at the data, we are not implementing Plan B at this point,” the health minister said on Wednesday.

The UK has virtually lifted all restrictions over the past four months even as the infection rate remained high, the New York Times report said.

– THE HINDUSTAN TIMES