New record for most Covid-19 deaths to occur on a single day
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A new record has been set for the “deadliest day” of the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK so far.
A total of 1,110 Covid-19 deaths took place on January 12 2021, according to Government figures.
This is the highest number of deaths to occur on a single day since the outbreak began.
The previous record was 1,073 deaths on April 8.
The figures are based on the Government’s preferred measure for counting Covid-19 deaths, which includes only people who died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.
They show that since the start of 2021 there have now been five days – January 10 to January 14 inclusive – on which more than 1,000 people died.
During the first wave of the virus, there was only one day – April 8 – when the daily death toll topped 1,000.
These figures are different to the number of newly-reported deaths that are announced each day.
The number of reported deaths include deaths that have taken place over the past few days and weeks, but which have only just been confirmed.
For example, of the 1,820 deaths reported on January 20, only one in five took place the previous day on January 19, while one in six of the deaths took place at least a week earlier, on or before January 13.
Based on figures just for people who died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, the second wave of coronavirus looks likely to result in a greater volume of deaths in the UK than the first.
In the three months from March 23 2020 – the date Boris Johnson announced the first UK-wide lockdown – to June 23, a total of 39,560 Covid-19 deaths took place.
But in just the two months from November 19 2020 up to January 19 2021 – the latest date for which data is available – 38,476 deaths are known to have taken place.
