According to government figures, 146,390 new infections were recorded in 24 hours, a decline from the record number recorded on Tuesday.
Although the number of injured people in hospitals is currently lower than that recorded during the previous waves (18,454 people on Saturday), the pressure on the health system is still very severe.
And the health system in England recorded, on January 2, the absence of more than 39,000 medical personnel due to being quarantined after contracting “Covid” or having contact with infected people, an increase of 59 percent within a week.
This number includes the absence of 4,700 people in London, which was the epicenter of the new outbreak of the epidemic.
“The Corona virus is taking a heavy toll on our country and today the number of recorded deaths has reached 150,000,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter.
In a separate tweet, Johnson sent a message of condolences to the families of the victims, stressing that each death “represents a profound loss for families, friends and affected areas.”
He stressed that “to end this epidemic, everyone should receive a booster dose or their first and second doses if they have not yet received them.”
On Friday, the government announced that it would deploy hundreds of military personnel to support hospitals and ambulance services in an attempt to fill this huge shortfall. About 1,800 military personnel were deployed across the United Kingdom.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has so far refused to impose further restrictions to limit the spread of the virus, betting on the intensity of testing and the expansion of the vaccination campaign.
And 82 percent of Britons over the age of 12 received two doses of the vaccine, while sixty percent of the aforementioned group received the booster dose (35 million people).
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