Britain's Covid outbreak continued to grow today as daily infections, deaths and hospital admissions all trended upwards.
The Department of Health said there were another 30,838 infections in the past 24 hours, marking a rise of nearly 15 per cent in a week.
There were also 174 deaths within 28 days of a positive test registered overnight, an increase of 2 per cent and the highest number since March when the country was in lockdown.
Latest data on Covid hospital admissions shows 858 patients were taken ill with the disease on August 20 in a 10 per cent rise week-on-week.
The rising statistics come as separate figures revealed the number of people dying from Covid every week in England and Wales has risen to the highest level since March.
A total of 571 people had the virus mentioned on their death certificates last week, according to the Office for National Statistics, which was up eight per cent on the previous seven-day spell.
This was the highest number since the week ending March 26, at the end of the second wave and when the countries were still in lockdown. At that time, the virus was behind 719 deaths.
The latest figures mean Covid was behind one in 18 total fatalities last week. While it marks a near five-month high, the rate at which Covid deaths are increasing appears to have slowed.
The eight per cent rise last week was the lowest in nearly two months. And deaths are still a far cry from the levels seen in previous waves, thanks to the vaccine rollout.
Seven out of nine regions in England saw their Covid deaths rise in the latest week compared to the previous seven-day spell. They only fell in the West Midlands and the North West.
Flu and pneumonia were involved in nearly three times more deaths last week than Covid.
Meanwhile, the number of 'excess deaths' from all causes is at its highest since February. These are the number of fatalities above the average for the corresponding period in the non-pandemic years of 2015-19.
A total of 10,372 deaths in England and Wales were registered in the week ending August 13, according to the ONS, which was 14 per cent above the five-year average, or 1,270 more deaths.
Excess deaths have not been this high since the week ending February 19, when 2,182 extra deaths were registered, 18.8 per cent above the five-year average.
Some of the increase in excess deaths can be explained by the recent rise in deaths involving Covid-19, all of which are classed as excess deaths.
But Covid deaths do not account for the majority of excess deaths, suggesting there are still many more people than normal dying of other causes – a trend that has been evident since the early weeks of the pandemic.
This is particularly true for deaths in private homes, which have been well above the 2015-19 average almost every week since April 2020.
Covid was mentioned on 571 death certificates in the week to August 13, according to the Office for National Statistics. This was the highest number since late March when the second wave was dying down. Covid deaths remained above average for the fifth week in a row
Deaths from all causes (dark blue line) remained above average in England and Wales for the fifth week in a row. There were 10,300 recorded (Dark blue line), which was above the number expected at this time of year (light blue line)
The number of excess deaths in private homes in England and Wales since the start of the pandemic now stands at 66,941, according to analysis by the PA news agency.
Of this number, just 8,152, or 12 per cent, were deaths that involved Covid-19. The recent rise in Covid-19 deaths reflects the impact of the third wave of coronavirus, which began
