UK excess deaths highest since war due to Covid

This pandemic is the biggest health emergency this country has faced since the Second World War.

Another stark warning, from the NHS medical director for London, as hospitals across the country continue to fill up with Covid patients in their thousands.

And health chiefs warn the peak of the crisis could still be weeks away. Ministers say they are keeping England’s lockdown rules under “constant review”, but would not be drawn on whether they could be tightened still further.

In the last 24 hours, another 45,533 cases have been confirmed.

A further 1,243 deaths have sadly been reported – the second-highest daily total of the pandemic. It takes the total number of deaths to more than 83,000.

But more than 2.4 million people have now received their first dose of vaccine.