Covid daily figures: 84,429 new infections and 85 deaths recorded on Monday

A further 84,429 new cases of Covid have been recorded along with 85 deaths in the UK Government’s latest daily figures.

This is a steep drop off in cases from the 142,224 reported last Monday which also saw 77 deaths of people with Covid.

The UK now has an official Covid death toll of giving a total of 152,075.

Over the past week, 700,366 people had a confirmed positive test result. This shows week-on-week decrease of -41.7 per cent.

Earlier, the prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters there were “encouraging signs” that infections are starting to fall.

The drop in cases will be good news for Boris Johnson who will be hoping to end Plan B restrictions when they expire on January 26.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said the “maximum amount of time possible” would be given to prepare for any changes in the rules.

“In terms of the data, there are some encouraging signs that infections are falling across the country,” the spokesman said.

“Obviously we want to see that mirrored in the latest ONS data as well.

“There are also some signs of falls – or at least plateauing – in admissions and occupancy in hospital, which is good to see.

“But it still remains the case that our NHS is under significant pressure, there are over 16,000 Covid patients in hospital in England alone.

“So we are keeping a very close eye on the data but we do believe the mitigations we have in place – particularly our booster programme – is offering massive protection to the public.”

From Monday you can stop self-isolating at the start of day 6 if you get 2 negative rapid lateral flow test results on days 5 and 6 and do not have a temperature.