Britain's coronavirus crisis is continuing to tick upwards, with new daily infections jumping by nearly 14 per cent today.
Department of Health bosses posted 38,520 positive tests, up 13.7 per cent on the 33,869 recorded last Tuesday. Infections have now risen week-on-week every day for a week.
Meanwhile, deaths and hospital admissions are also trending upwards. Both the measures lag weeks behind cases because of how long it can take for infected people to become severely ill.
Another 181 victims were added to the Government's official death toll today, up nine per cent on the 166 seen last week.
And hospitalisations also increased 11.8 per cent in a week. Some 766 infected patients were admitted to an NHS ward on Friday, the latest date data is available for.
The figures come after Keir Starmer today called for No10's Covid inquiry to be brought forward in the wake of a scathing report that laid bare a string of failures ministers made in handling the pandemic.
The first major probe into the Covid crisis concluded that thousands of care home residents died needlessly in the pandemic, and that ministers were blinded by 'groupthink' among scientific advisers who wanted to manage the spread of the virus, rather than suppress it.
The dossier also claimed that No10's early decisions on lockdowns and social distancing rank as 'one of the most important public health failures the UK has ever experienced'.
It comes as:
Jeremy Hunt admitted he was part of 'groupthink' which wrongly focused too much on flu and failed to adequately plan for a coronavirus pandemic; Scientists suggested thousands of children with the sniffles may wrongly be being told to stay at home over concerns they have Covid; People should wear masks outdoors by Indian scientists because gusts of wind blowing in the same direction as a cough increases the transmission of Covid.Government data shows that of the 94,428,905 Covid jabs given in the UK up to yesterday, 49,216,092 were first doses, a rise of 29,172 on the previous day.
Some 45,212,813 were second doses, an increase of 23,632.
But health chiefs have yet to release any daily figures for third doses, despite the booster drive kicking off last month.
The Government said a further 181 people died today bringing the UK total to 137,944.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have been 163,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate.
The total death toll comes after politicians slammed the Government for its handling of the pandemic in the early stages of last year after a joint report by the health and science select committees
Speaking on a visit to a lorry driver training centre near Oldham, Sir Keir said: 'I think the least the PM could do is address the families, apologise, and bring forward the public inquiry just as quickly as possible.'
The opposition leader added: 'The PM should take responsibility because the responsibility is his, and he should apologise.
'But I'd like to just start by acknowledging just how difficult a day this will be for the bereaved families learning what they will learn in this report, which is a damning indictment of the Government and the flaws and errors and failures of the Government running down the NHS before the pandemic, being far too slow to respond, with the price being paid by those bereaved families, chaotic track and trace.'
Latest data from Test and Trace shows the proportion of children being told they are positive for Covid when they don't have the virus by lateral flow devices has doubled in the last month (red line). More than one in ten positive results from lateral flows are incorrect
Meanwhile, one of the Government's own ministers today refused to apologise 11 times for the mistakes that had led to thousands of deaths in Britain.
Stephen Barclay, who replaced Michael Gove as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in No10's reshuffle last month, was grilled about the report and repeatedly given the opportunity to say sorry by Sky News presenter Kay Burley, but he instead dodged the chance. He even admitted he had not yet read the 151-page report.
Boris Johnson has promised a formal inquiry into the Government's response to the pandemic will start in Spring 2022 but an exact date has yet to be set. When he announced the probe, he insisted key players would be put 'under the microscope'.
Labour had originally called for the inquiry to begin in June this year, in line with No10's lifting of virus restrictions. There are currently virtually no Covid curbs on daily life in England.
Meanwhile, Dominic Cummings today slammed his old boss for his handling of the pandemic, branding the Prime Minister a 'joke'.
Speaking to Sky News outside his home, the Prime Minister's ex chief adviser labelled No10's system for dealing with crises a 'disaster'. He said: 'The system was bad for many years before Covid.
'Me and others put into place work to try and improve the system in 2020 after the first wave, unfortunately the Prime Minister – being the joke that he is – has not pushed that work through.'
Mr Cummings, who has been a vocal critic of Mr and Mrs Johnson since leaving Downing Street, added: 'Now we have a joke Prime Minister and a joke leader of the Labour party, and we obviously need a new political system.'
The report, published today by the health and science committees at the House of Commons, is the first to shine a light on the catalogue of failures made at the top of Government. It castigated the 'chaotic' performance of the £37billion test and trace system.
Families of coronavirus victims today called report 'laughable', with one campaigner
