A further 107,364 Covid cases and 330 deaths have been reported in the Government’s latest daily figures.
The number of cases is a slight fall on the 109,133 new infections in last Wednesday’s figures, when 335 deaths were recorded.
Over the past seven days, 650,700 people had a positive test result - a week-on-week decrease of 32.8 per cent.
It came as the rate of new cases of Covid-19 among young schoolchildren in England has jumped sharply to a record high, figures show.
A total of 1,935.7 cases per 100,000 five to nine-year-olds were recorded in the seven days to January 16, up week-on-week from 1,372.7.
The rate among under-fives has also increased, from 706.9 to 829.7.
For both age groups this is the highest weekly rate since the data was first collected in summer 2020, according to the latest surveillance report from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
The figures coincide with the return of children to nurseries and primary schools in early January.
There is no sign of a similar jump in rates among secondary school-age children, however.
British people went back to the office on Thursday after the Government dropped work from home guidance after dropping plan B.
