MORE than 100 new cases of Covid have been recorded in Oxfordshire in a day.

According to Public Health England, as of 9am Thursday, these were the number of new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours;

  • Oxford - 33
  • Oxfordshire - 122
  • UK - 22,915

The total coronavirus cases since the pandemic started;

  • Oxford - 3,020
  • Oxfordshire - 9,411
  • UK - 1,453,256

Cumulative case counts include patients who are currently unwell, have recovered and those that have died. A further 501 people were reported to have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test. It takes the confirmed UK death toll to 53,775.

Oxfordshire’s Director of Public Health, Ansaf Azhar, in an update on Covid at a county council health improvement partnership board meeting this afternoon, said: "As you would expect, as it has been happening across the country, the Covid numbers have been escalating and escalating rapidly."

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He stressed, however, that benefits from lockdown restrictions would only start to be seen 'around now', saying: "The first two weeks of the lockdown, because of the incubation time of the virus, means increases would have been already built in."

He added there was variation in the county, with Oxford have the highest infection rate but that it was 'largely driven by younger people' which was now starting to 'stabilise'.

The health chief cautioned there was more spreading to older age groups now though, which would lead to increased hospital admissions and some deaths.