Over 6,000 new coronavirus cases recorded in 24 hours - highest since May

23 September 2020, 16:19 | Updated: 23 September 2020, 17:12

The UK has recorded a further 6,178 daily cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hour period - the highest since May 1.

Another 37 deaths have also been reported, taking the UK's total to 41,862. It is up from 4,926 cases and 37 coronavirus deaths yesterday.

Last Wednesday, September 16, the death toll increased by 20 while cases rose by 3,991.

There have only been two days since the start of the pandemic which have exceeded today's daily total - 1 May, when there were 6,201 confirmed cases and 5 April, when there were 6,199.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that measures, including a 10pm curfew for bars and restaurants and advising people to work from home, could last six months.

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab claimed we have “got control of the virus” over the past six months but said the “winter months would be a challenge.”

Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Mr Raab said the Government had introduced the new measures in a bid to avoid “more severe measures going into Christmas.”

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It comes as Scotland also recorded the highest number of cases in a single day, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

A total of 486 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland in the past 24 hours, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said - the highest number of cases recorded in a single day in Scotland.

Speaking at the Scottish Government's daily briefing, Ms Sturgeon said two deaths of confirmed Covid-19 patients have been recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 2,508.

She said 25,495 people have now tested positive in Scotland, up from 25,009 the day before.

This is 7.8 per cent of newly-tested individuals, up from 7.6 per cent yesterday.

Of the new cases, 224 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 107 in Lanarkshire and 57 in Lothian.

There are 83 people in hospital confirmed to have the virus, up by 10 in 24 hours.

Of these patients, 10 were in intensive care, no change on yesterday.

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A further 23 people who tested positive for coronavirus died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 29,808, NHS England said on Wednesday.

Patients were aged between 69 and 96 and all had known underlying health conditions.

The dates of the deaths were between August 14 and September 22.

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

There have been a further 389 cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 21,548.

Public Health Wales said two further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic increasing to 1,605.