BRITAIN’S daily Covid death toll has soared by 22 per cent in just one week – but the number of people testing positive has dropped.
Today’s death toll of 147 is up on the 121 recorded last Friday – as the number of cases rises by 37,622.
But today’s case load marks a drop of 10.6 per cent on the 42,076 seen on this day last week.
Meanwhile the number of people admitted to hospital on Monday 6 – the most-recent recorded data – was 1,063.
The rise in deaths comes ahead of Boris Johnson next week unveiling a “toolbox” of contingency measures to keep Britain open, Trending In The News can reveal.
Ministers will give the go-ahead to vaccine booster shots, Covid passports for clubs and stadiums and the biggest flu jab rollout in history to ease pressure on the NHS.
An advertising blitz will urge the most vulnerable to get a third Covid jab and a flu shot to try to stop hospitals being overwhelmed if cases keep rising.
The PM is privately vowing another lockdown is out of the question and has ordered the Government to do everything possible to avoid future restrictions.
He will stress it is time to “learn to live with Covid forever” but wants to see the hated Coronavirus Act 2020 renewed as a precaution.
The emergency powers within it expire at the end of this month, so the PM will force a vote on extending them for another six months.
Dozens of Tory MPs are opposed to the move, with one MP branding renewals a “tyranny”.
Allies of the PM say the jabs rollout means this winter will be “different” but ministers refuse to rule out a return to some restrictions if the NHS looks under stress.
It is hoped the double shot whammy will keep pressure on the health service to within seasonal norms — despite hospital admissions steadily ticking up.
