UK records highest new daily Covid deaths since July

Public Health England figures show that 1,067 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 by 9am on Tuesday (September 29) in Brighton and Hove, up from 1,059 the same time on Monday.

The health body is now including Pillar 2 tests – those carried out by commercial partners – alongside Pillar 1 tests, which are analysed in NHS or PHE laboratories and which made up the first stage of the Government’s mass testing programme. The number of recorded coronavirus cases in East Sussex increased by 18.

The Public Health England figures show that 1,960 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in East Sussex, up from 1,942 the same time on Monday.

The number of recorded coronavirus cases in West Sussex increased by 27.

Public Health England figures show that 3,474 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in West Sussex, up from 3,447 the same time on Monday.

The UK as a whole announced 7,143 new cases. There were 71 more Covid-related deaths.

The cases are a daily record since mass testing began - but experts believe the figure was much higher in the Spring.

The daily deaths announcement was the highest since 1 July, when 97 deaths were confirmed

While the 7,143 lab-confirmed cases recorded in the UK is the highest since the outbreak began, experts have previously warned that describing the daily figure as a record could be “misleading”.

That’s because it is not clear how many people were actually infected at the height of the first wave due to a lack of mass testing in the community.

Coronavirus cases have been rising again since July, but the rate of growth has increased since the end of August.

The 71 deaths recorded were the highest UK total announced since 1 July.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been nearly 57,900 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.