Another 122,186 new cases of Covid-19 have been announced – another new record for daily infections in the UK.
The daily figure, which was up from 119,789 the day before, comes after a record number of people tested positive for Covid in the UK last week.
There were also 137 deaths in the past 24 hours, figures show, down from 147 on Thursday.
Around 1.7 million people in the UK were thought to have been infected with coronavirus last week, with the Omicron variant responsible for the exceptionally rapid spread.
England had the highest proportion of cases, with one in 35 people recording a positive test result, rising to one in 20 in London.
Separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been 173,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
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