Friday’s figures also show 203 deaths as ONS estimates one in 25 people in England had Covid before Christmas
The number of confirmed Covid cases in the UK continued to rise on the last day of 2021, with a new record of 189,846 reported in the previous 24 hours.
It follows two consecutive days when the number of new cases was above 180,000, with 189,213 reported on Thursday and 183,037 on Wednesday – although the latter included a backlog in some nations of cases recorded before and during the Christmas period. Experts said the latest figures are likely to include the first infections arising from people socialising on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
