UK coronavirus cases double in a week with 14,162 recorded today and 70 deaths
It comes as Boris Johnson faces pressure to implement tighter national restrictions.
The UK has seen another huge rise in coronavirus cases with 14,162 more people testing positive in the past 24 hours.
It means the number of daily infections has doubled in the space of a week, with 7,108 cases recorded on Wednesday September 30.
The total number of people who have been infected with the virus since the pandemic began now stands at 544, 275.
The figures from the Department of Health show 70 more deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded, bringing the number of deaths with Covid-19 on the death certificate to 57, 347.
Some 3,145 patients are in hospital, with 410 on ventilator beds, according to the latest available figures. The seven-day rolling average for patients admitted to hospitals is 508.
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It comes after the Scottish Government declared a two-week ban on the sale of alcohol at pubs and restaurants as part of a circuit breaker lockdown.
From Friday hospitality venues will only be allowed to open indoors between 6am and 6pm under the 16 day curfew – on the condition they don’t serve alcohol.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced an additional £40 million of funding to soften the blow the restrictions will have on businesses.
She said action is needed now to curb the nation’s outbreak, with cases rising by an average of 780 per day.
Boris Johnson is facing pressure to follow in her footsteps and introduce tighter national restrictions. There are reports pubs in northern England could be forced to shut as data suggests local measures to contain the spread of coronavirus are not working.
An analysis by Labour found infection rates are rising in 19 of the 20 areas that have been under local lockdown for two months.
Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Government’s scientific advisory panel, recommended a ‘circuit breaker’ be considered on a national basis in a bid to slow the virus.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Prof Semple told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that ‘perhaps a circuit breaker a couple of weeks ago would have been a really good idea’,
He added: ‘It’s always easier to reduce an outbreak at the earlier stage than to let it run and then try to reduce it at a later stage.
‘So, yes, circuit breakers are certainly something we should be thinking about on a national basis.’
Another Government adviser John Edmunds agreed that local measures had failed in England and said more stringent national restrictions were needed to bring the pandemic under control.
‘These local restrictions that have been put in place in much of the north of England really haven’t been very effective,’ he told BBC Newsnight.
‘We need to take much more stringent measures, not just in the north of England, we need to do it countrywide, and bring the epidemic back under control.’
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