Coronavirus infections are continuing to rise rapidly, with an estimated 27,900 new cases a day in England, the Office for National Statistics says. This figure is far higher than the number of confirmed cases announced by the government each day. The R number has risen slightly to 1.3-1.5, with growth of the epidemic still widespread across the country.

It comes as the highest level of restrictions are introduced in more of the UK. Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said ‘R’ was not growing as fast as it would be without the measures people were following.

But he said “we are not where we need to be”, adding there was “more work to do”. The increase in people testing positive in recent weeks is being driven by high rates in older teenagers and young adults, the ONS infection survey says. It found steep increases in infection rates in the north west, the north east, Yorkshire and the Humber.

New cases of the virus have gone up by 60% in a week, according to the ONS, based on its survey of people in random households with or without symptoms.(BBC)…[+]