UK records another 816 positive coronavirus cases
Health authorities today recorded 816 confirmed cases of coronavirus, falling back from the previous day’s total which had been the highest daily rise in infections since late June.
A total of 311,641 people have now tested positive for coronavirus, official data on cases showed.
The daily rate is unusually high for a starting week figure, as reporting delays over the weekend often lead to an influx of positive coronavirus cases on Tuesdays.
It follows data yesterday which showed there were 1,062 new positive cases of coronavirus, surpassing the 1,000-mark for the first time in almost two months.
It comes at a time of new local lockdowns in some areas and worries over a second wave of infections.
It emerged on Friday that the so-called R rate — meaning how many times one infected person will pass on the virus — may have risen above 1.0 for the first time in London.
The latest government update indicated that the R number in London is between 0.8 and 1.1 — the same as the north-west and south-west of England, which retained the same R number as last week.
The R rate for England has stayed the same, however, at 0.8 to 1.0, while the UK as a whole has risen from 0.8 to 0.9 to move in line with England.
The Department of Health and Social Care said today that the NHS Test and Trace scheme will provide local areas with dedicated teams of contact tracers to help stop the spread of coronavirus.
“These dedicated teams of NHS Test and Trace contact tracers will focus their work on specific areas, alongside the relevant local public health officials to provide a more tailored service,” it said in a statement.