Coronavirus: Highest daily UK cases since June on day government fails to publish data

Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK have risen to the highest daily total since mid-June, breaching an official government threshold.

Ministers failed to publish data last night – blaming “technical difficulties” – but the figure of 1,148 was mysteriously posted on a separate website.

It is the highest since there were 1,221 new daily infections on 21 June. The Joint Biosecurity Centre has raised the alarm over any figure above 1,000.

In May, the centre set keeping the caseload below 1,000 confirmed infections a day was a key target it believed must be met if “flare-ups” of coronavirus are to be avoided.

But the Department of Health and Social Care is playing down the significance of the ceiling, insisting there are still “low levels of disease compared to the start of the pandemic”.

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