One in 100 people in England infected with Covid last week, ONS figures show

The scale of the rise in Covid-19 cases was laid bare today in figures from the Office for National Statistics.

They showed that one in 100 people in England was infected by the virus in the week between 17 and 23 October.

The latest daily government figures show that there were 274 deaths within 24 hours.

There have now been 45,949 officially registered deaths within 28 days of a positive test, and 1,489 patients have been admitted to hospital.