Another 574 people have died with Covid-19, bringing the UK’s death toll to 69,625.

The UK has recorded its second ever highest daily spike in cases, with 39,036 testing positive in the last 24 hours, according to the latest data by the Department of Health.

It means a total of 2,188,587 people have caught the virus since the start of the UK’s outbreak.

However, the UK’s overall number of fatalities increases to 79,349 when taking into account all that had Covid-19 listed on a death certificate.

For comparison, yesterday 744 people lost their lives, while the UK confirmed a record number of daily cases with 39,237 testing positive.

The latest figures come as infections continue to rise across England, with up to half of new cases attributed to the fast-spreading mutant variant of Covid-19.

London and areas in the south east and east have seen sharp increases in the number of people testing positive, which have been placed under the toughest tier four measures.

The capital now has the highest positivity rate, with an estimated 2.1% of people in private households testing positive, followed by the south east (1.4%) and east (1.2%), according to the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) latest infection survey.

Yesterday, six million people were told they would be plunged into the harshest restrictions from just after midnight on Boxing Day.

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