London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

Covid: Cases in UK rise above 30,000 for first time since January

Covid: Cases in UK rise above 30,000 for first time since January

Coronavirus cases in the UK have risen above 30,000 for first time since January, official figures show.

Wednesday's data showed there had been a further 32,548 confirmed Covid cases.

And there were another 33 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive Covid test.

It comes as Boris Johnson has defended the government's approach to easing England's lockdown, saying the link between infection and serious disease and death has been "severed".

The prime minister has pledged to scrap most of England's coronavirus regulations at step four of the roadmap out of lockdown, expected on 19 July.

It means the government is now braced for a surge in coronavirus cases, possibly around 100,000 a day, as restrictions are lifted.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Johnson said it was "certainly true" there was a "wave of cases because of the Delta variant" of the virus.

"But scientists are also absolutely clear that we have severed the link between infection and serious disease and death," he said.

"Currently there are only a 30th of the deaths that we were seeing at an equivalent position in previous waves of this pandemic."

However, on Monday the government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance was more cautious, saying vaccines had "weakened the link between cases and hospitalisations, but it's a weakened link, not a completely broken link".


Wednesday's daily figure for Covid cases in the UK is above 30,000 for the first time since 24 January.

In terms of hospitalisations, England is seeing more than 330 admissions a day on average at the moment. The most recent day - Monday - saw 416 admitted.

As of Wednesday, 2,144 people are in hospital in England with Covid - the first time this figure has topped 2,000 since April.


Wednesday's case total represents an increase from 28,700 on Tuesday.

It is not unusual for there to be a big jump on a Wednesday as a result of a weekend effect - slightly less testing is done.

What's important is the trend. Week on week this represents a 43% rise. That is actually down on what has been seen recently. They are going up quickly, but not as quickly as last week.

It's too early to say whether that is part of a longer-term pattern. But what is certain is that government officials are watching this data like hawks.

The policy of opening up in England is based on the hope that the virus will soon hit the wall of immunity built up by the vaccination programme and natural infection.

Ministers have said we should be prepared to see 100,000 cases a day. But they are hoping this wave of infection peaks well before that.

Because while the vaccination programme has weakened the link between cases and hospitalisation, it has not broken it entirely.

On current trends that many infections would lead to 2,000 daily admissions - twice what the NHS would normally see in the depths of winter for all types of respiratory illness.

The PM has also defended the timescale for ending self-isolation for contacts of Covid, insisting it is a "sensible approach".

The government has said people who are fully vaccinated will not have to self-isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 from 16 August.

Giving evidence to the Commons Liaison Committee, Mr Johnson rejected the suggestion 16 August had been chosen because it was when the government expected the population to have reached herd immunity .

"That's not the consideration… it's the time by which we feel that there will have been much more progress on vaccination," he said.

And the PM said to do it any sooner would "effectively be allowing many more people to be vector of disease."

"All decisions are a balance of risk," he said.

Asked how many people the government expected to end up self-isolating over the next month, he said: "That will depend on the spread. I haven't seen any data on that. It will depend on the numbers."

Meanwhile, World Health Organization emergencies director Dr Mike Ryan has urged countries to use extreme caution when reopening their economies from Covid restrictions so as "not to lose the gains you have made".

Asked at a briefing if the UK was aiming for herd immunity, Dr Ryan said: "I'm not aware that that's the logic driving our colleagues in the United Kingdom, I suspect it's not.

He said the argument that it was better to infect more people was morally empty and epidemiologically stupid.


Labour's leader Sir Keir Starmer has warned the prime minister he is leading the country into a "summer of chaos and confusion" over plans to ease lockdown.

At PMQs, he said the country should open up "in a controlled way" and urged Mr Johnson to ensure masks still have to be worn on public transport.

Face masks will no longer be legally required and distancing rules will be scrapped at the final stage of England's Covid lockdown roadmap.

The lifting of rules on 19 July will be confirmed next Monday after a review of the latest data.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×