Daily Covid cases jump by over 4,000 for first time since April

28 May 2021, 17:45 | Updated: 28 May 2021, 17:47

4,182 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in the UK - the highest figure since 1 April.

It is also the third day in a row the number of new infections have risen above 3,000 amid fears the Indian variant is spreading.

Yesterday Health Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed the Indian variant is now the most dominant strain in the UK.

Boris Johnson warned that freedom from restrictions on June 21 may have to wait as it emerged three-quarters of new cases are now the Indian mutation.

Ministers are remaining cautious on the prospect of all measures being scrapped in England on June 21, as set out in the Prime Minister's road map, although hospital admissions remain flat.

Officials are examining the most recent data after confirmed cases of the Indian variant of Covid-19 reached almost 7,000. It is now the dominant strain in the UK.

Speaking during a Downing Street press conference on Thursday, the Health Secretary said that up to three-quarters of new coronavirus cases were the Indian variant.

LBC's Westminster Correspondent Ben Kentish reported that data currently suggests the UK is currently the only European country where the Indian strain has become the dominant strain.

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It comes after the French government announced British travelling into the country will need to quarantine in a bid to stop the Indian coronavirus variant from spreading there.

"The latest estimates are that more than half and potentially as many as three-quarters of all new cases are now of this variant," Hancock said.

It also emerged this week that 6,959 cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus had been confirmed in the UK up to May 26, a rise of 3,535 on the previous week.

Public Health England (PHE) said the local areas most affected by the Indian variant of coronavirus continued to be Bolton, Bedford and Blackburn with Darwen, which have seen 1,354, 366 and 361 confirmed cases respectively.

PHE also said that across England 201 people who were confirmed to have the Indian variant had attended A&E up to May 25, resulting in 43 admissions.

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Hospital attendances and admissions are predominantly in unvaccinated people, it added.

Hancock said the increase in cases of the Indian variant remained focused in "hotspots" where surge testing and vaccinations were taking place.

He added "The increase in cases remains focused in hotspots and we are doing all we can to tackle this variant wherever it flares up.

"Over the past six months we now have built a huge testing capacity at our disposal and we are using this to surge testing into the eight hotspot areas and other places where the cases are lower but rising.

"In the hotspot areas we are surging vaccines, too, for those who are eligible, in Bolton for instance we have done 17,147 vaccinations in the last week."