In England 190 died in hospital, 10 died in Wales and seven lost their lives in Northern Ireland. Yesterday a further 351 people died in UK hospitals from the coronavirus. The grim death toll continues to tick up as the country tries to get to grips with a mutant strain of the coronavirus. Minutes from the warn that the mutant strain could raise the UK's infection rate by as much as 0.93. When NERVTAG met on December 18, the R rate was 1.2 in the UK, and as high as 1.3 in England.

Source: Daily Mirror December 21, 2020 14:11 UTC