UK records another 18,662 coronavirus cases and 398 deaths

22 November 2020, 17:35 | Updated: 22 November 2020, 17:50

A further 398 people have died with coronavirus in the UK with another 18,662 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours.

The daily total includes 141 deaths which were omitted from yesterday's government figures in error.

Yesterday, 341 people were reported to have died with coronavirus in the UK with another 19,875 confirmed coronavirus cases.

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK has now also passed 1.5 million.

It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,512,045.

The Government said a further 398 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Sunday, bringing the UK total to 55,024.

It means over the last week, an average of 442 Covid-19 deaths have been reported every day.

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It also confirmed that an error in Saturday's death figures had been corrected after the number was under reported.

The Government said of Sunday's figures on deaths of people who tested positive for Covid: "Due to a processing update, 141 previously published deaths within 28 days in England were excluded from the published data on November 21.

"This issue has now been corrected for data published on November 22, which includes deaths omitted yesterday in today's total and daily number of newly reported deaths."

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It comes after the government announced that "some limited additional household bubbling" could be allowed for a small number of days over Christmas, the government has announced.

Michael Gove held meetings with the leaders of the devolved administrations yesterday, where they all “endorsed a shared objective of facilitating some limited additional household bubbling for a small number of days”.

However, with coronavirus cases still widespread across the four nations, they warned "this will not be a normal festive period and the risks of transmission remain very real".

In a statement from the Cabinet Office, the leaders "emphasised that the public will be advised to remain cautious, and that wherever possible people should avoid travelling and minimise social contact".

The exact arrangements, including relating to travel, will be concluded this week and will be “subject to agreement by each administration”.

Several families could be allowed to join a bubble and to mix between December 22 and 28, reports say.

The Cabinet Office statement also noted that in Northern Ireland "people will want to see family and friends across the island of Ireland", adding that "this is the subject of discussions with the Irish Government".