Yahoo News COVID-19: UK records 32,651 new cases and 178 further deaths - with 8,068 patients in hospital
The UK has recorded another 32,651 coronavirus cases and a further 178 related deaths, with the number of COVID patients in hospital now at 8,068.
The total number of people in hospital with coronavirus in the UK has been over 8,000 for 10 of the past 11 days.
Before that, the last time the figure surpassed 8,000 was in early March.
On this day last year there were 1,106 COVID patients reported in hospital across the UK.
The number of patients in mechanical ventilation beds currently stands at 1,020 - the figure has been over 1,000 every day since the last day of August. Before this, the last time the number was as high was in mid-March.
The latest cases and deaths figures compare with the 26,911 infections and 158 fatalities confirmed yesterday.
The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the UK is now 134,983.
Meanwhile, another 23,833 people had their first coronavirus vaccine dose, taking the total to 48,528,901.
A further 63,999 people had their second dose, taking the total of fully vaccinated people in the UK to 44,298,076.
Official data released for England separately showed that the R number remains stable at 0.9 to 1.1.
The R number is unchanged from last week's estimate, seemingly confirming an assessment by Public Health England yesterday that the COVID situation in England has remained "stable".
The R number indicates how many people on average will be infected by each coronavirus patient.
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Therefore, with an R number between 0.9 and 1.1, every 10 people will pass the virus to between 9 and 11 other people on average.
An R above 1 means the outbreak is growing exponentially, while below 1 means it is shrinking.
The figures come as major changes to England's rules for international travel is were announced by the transport secretary.
From 4 October, the current traffic light system of red, amber and green countries will be scrapped and replaced with one red list only.
Anywhere not on the red list is considered green and clear for travel - there will no longer be an amber list.
Also from that date, travellers will no longer need to take pre-departure tests for travelling into England from abroad.
Then, from the end of October, fully vaccinated passengers from non-red list countries will be able to replace day-two PCR tests with cheaper lateral flow tests.
