UK reports highest number of new Covid cases in two months

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will decide in the coming days whether to further ease restrictions

 People queue for Covid-19 vaccines in London. A rise in new UK cases throws into question plans to further lift lockdown measures in mid-June. Getty Images

The UK has recorded the highest daily coronavirus figures in more than two months, with 6,238 new cases and 11 deaths.

This is the highest number of cases since March 25, when there were 6,397 new infections, and significantly up on Thursday’s count of 5,274.

Covid-19 deaths dropped slightly, with 11, compared with 18 the previous day.

The rise throws into question plans to further lift lockdown measures.

In the coming days, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will decide whether to lift pandemic restrictions as planned on June 21, with an announcement due a week before.

On Thursday, the UK tightened its traffic light travel list in an attempt to protect the planned "Freedom Day".

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the government was watching for any sign that variants spreading through the country could force it to reconsider its next planned easing of lockdown measures.

"We are looking out for these variants all the time. New variants do come through all the time – we're always careful and looking for that,” he said.

"However, thus far, we've been able to open up steps one, two and three [in the road map] without an increase in the number of people going into hospital. That is essentially flat, and so we have been able to make this progress.

"The prime minister, at the start of the road map, said it was going to be cautious and irreversible – that is our goal."

Businesses – particularly the travel sector which was infuriated by a decision on Thursday to increase travel restrictions – have been keen to see the economy open up.

Covid-19 cases in England have risen 76.5 per cent in a week, the Office for National Statistics reported.

It estimated that 85,600 people in the country had Covid-19 in the week ended May 29.

This is the highest level since the week ended April 16 and is up from 48,500 people the week before.

England’s R number – the number of people that one infected person is likely to transmit a virus to – also rose slightly to between 1 and 1.2, from between 1 and 1.1 last week.