The UK has reported more than 1,000 coronavirus deaths for the second consecutive day, as new cases fell slightly to 52,618. 

The tally of 1,162 deaths in the latest 24 hour period appears to be the country’s second highest ever daily death toll, after 1,224 fatalities on April 21, 2020.

It brings the UK death tally to 78,508, as the latest wave of infections continues to batter the NHS. On Wednesday, daily Covid deaths topped 1,000 for the first time since April, as 1,041 fatalities were confirmed. Recent figures are being affected by a lag in reporting from the festive period.

But there will be some relief that the daily case total has dropped to a comparative low, following three consecutive days of new infections hitting roughly 60,000.

Confirmed infections since the pandemic began are now approaching 3 million, with the total standing at 2,889,419.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies alongside data on deaths in recent days, suggest there have now been 94,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the country.

Earlier, NHS England confirmed that a further 661 people who tested positive for Covid-19 had died in the country’s hospitals, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in the setting to 53,730.

Patients were aged between 33 and 103. All except 28, aged between 48 and 96, had known underlying health conditions.

The deaths were between December 2 and January 6.

There were 41 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Scotland recorded 78 new deaths and 2,649 new cases in the past 24-hour period, according to official figures.

The death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – is now 4,779, while a total of 143,715 people have tested positive in the country since the start of the pandemic.

In Wales, there have been a further 1,718 cases, taking the total number of confirmed infections to 163,234.

Public Health Wales reported another 63 deaths, bringing the country’s toll to 3,801.

An additional 17 deaths of people with Covid-19 have been reported in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health said.

It added that another 1,410 people had tested positive.

Meanwhile, a South African vaccine expert said delaying a second jab could put people at risk from the South African strain.

In the UK, a national police chief warned officers are ‘stretched’ as they step up a crackdown on Covid rulebreakers.

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