The UK has recorded its highest number of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.
A total of 6634 new positive cases were confirmed on Thursday, up from 6178 on Wednesday.
The vast majority of the day’s cases were recorded in England, at 5,632. Scotland recorded 465 infections, Wales 348 and Northern Ireland 189.
Forty deaths from the virus were also recorded, all but three happening in England.
Despite today’s total being a record high, experts believe that during the peak of the pandemic in April and May there were far more new infections happening.
Imperial College researchers believe at one point more than 100,000 people were contracting the virus every day.
Consistent testing didn’t kick off until May so most initial cases would have been missed at the time.
Even now it’s estimated that testing only picks up on approximately one third of all current infections.
One of the country’s top scientists recently claimed that coronavirus testing in the UK is “dying on its a***” as labs failing to keep up with demand.
Dr Phil Robinson, a genomics expert and inventor who visited the labs, says “every part of the process was poor” – as thousands of Brits struggle to book themselves a test locally.
