Eighty thousand people tested positive for Coronavirus on 29 December

The Prime Minister tonight revealed that more than 80,000 people had tested positive for coronavirus on a single day in December as he put England into a new nationwide lockdown. 

The UK has been announcing more than 50,000 new cases per day for  a week now, but new figures showing the cases by specimen date reveals that 80,000 people tested positive for coronavirus on December 29. 

It comes after fears that allowing Britons to mix at Christmas in parts of the country will have fuelled a huge spike in cases of the virus., despite Londoners and much of the South East being barred from meeting. 

The Prime Minister said: ‘ December 29, more than 80,000 people tested positive for Covid across the UK – a new record. The number of deaths is up by 20 per cent over the last week and will sadly rise further. My thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones.’  

Downing Street issued a series of slides showing the problem the country faces due to the new variant of the virus

The UK recorded  58,784 new cases today – a 42 per cent rise on last Monday.

It means the UK has passed the milestone of 50,000 infections every day for a week, suggesting that the easing of restrictions at Christmas helped fuel the outbreak.

Department of Health chiefs also posted 407 more deaths, up just 14 per cent on the figure recorded last week. 

But it can take infected patients several weeks to fall severely ill and succumb to the illness, meaning fatalities have yet to reach their peak and will continue to rise. The UK recorded almost 1,000 deaths twice last week, in grisly tolls not seen since the darkest days of the spring.