The UK has reported its highest daily rise in laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases since the outbreak began.
A further 26,688 infections were announced today, taking the total number to 789,229.
This is a jump of more than 5,000 on the 21,330 positive cases confirmed yesterday.
Experts have previously warned that describing the daily figure as a record could be "misleading" as it is not clear how many people were actually infected during the height of the first wave, due to a lack of community testing at the time.
A further 191 people died within 28 days of a positive test, meaning the death toll stands at 44,158.
The daily number of positive cases has climbed steeply in recent weeks and has nearly doubled in the last fortnight.
The daily figure was 19,724 positive cases seven days ago (14 October) and 14,162 a week before that (7 October).
The number of patients in hospital and on ventilators is also increasing.
Separate official data shows there were 5,828 Covid-19 patients in hospital in England yesterday - the latest figure available - up from 3,905 a week ago, while 559 were in ventilation beds, up from 441.
These numbers are highest in the north west of the country, where 2,042 patients were in hospital as of yesterday, with 186 people on ventilators.
Last month, two of the British government's top advisers, Professor Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance, warned that cases could reach around 50,000 a day by mid-October if cases doubled every seven days.
Further 1.4m people in north England under tough virus curbs
More than one million people in northern England will be banned from mixing with other households under tougher new coronavirus rules announced by the British government.
The county of South Yorkshire, which includes the city of Sheffield, will enter into "very high alert" restrictions from 12.01am on Saturday.
Under the rules, many pubs, bars, casinos and other venues will be closed for at least four weeks and residents will be barred from meeting anybody outside their household indoors.
"I fully recognise the huge impact this will have on communities in the area and the sacrifices people will be making," said Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Robert Jenrick.
"That's why we have agreed an extensive package of support for local people, businesses and councils."
Dan Jarvis, mayor of the Sheffield City Region, tweeted that local leaders had secured £41 million (€45m) in government funding.
The decision will affect around 1.4 million people, meaning that 7.3 million people, or 13% of England's population, will now be living under the toughest restrictions.
Our Council leaders and I have secured £41m funding from Govt to support our people and businesses as we move to Tier 3. We've taken action to protect both lives and livelihoods as pressure increases on our #NHS.
— Dan Jarvis (@DanJarvisMP) October 21, 2020
The new rules start at 0001 on Sat 24 Oct.https://t.co/U7yv77Yx7I
Similar measures were recently announced for the north-west cities of Liverpool and Manchester and the county of Lancashire.
Local leaders in Manchester bitterly opposed the move without extra cash, threatening to undermine Prime Minister Boris Johnson's strategy of local lockdowns across England.
Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said Mr Johnson's government had refused to meet his demands for a package of £65m, which he called "the bare minimum to prevent a winter of real hardship here".
Additional reporting AFP
