THE number of new UK Covid deaths today hit its highest figure in almost EIGHT months.

       Another 263 fatalities were confirmed this afternoon, along with 40,954 new cases.

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       It means almost 140,000 (139,834) people have died from Covid in the UK since the start of the pandemic.

       Almost nine million (8,853,227) have tested positive for the bug overall.

       Today's rise in deaths is higher than any daily figure recorded since March 3, when 315 new fatalities were reported.

       The rate of infection is higher than it was yesterday, when 36,567 new cases were logged.

       Infections remain lower, however, than daily figures recorded in recent days.

       It comes as scientists warn it is unfair to "bash the UK" over high numbers of Covid cases as the UK has such high levels of testing.

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       Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, who helped create the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, said there were reasons the UK was seeing a high number of confirmed cases, which have been averaging more than 40,000 a day for over a week.

       He said it was true the UK had high case rates but this is "very much related to the amount of testing", including in schools.

       Sir Andrew told the Commons Science and Technology Committee today: "If you look across Western Europe, we have about 10 times more tests done each day than some other countries, this is per head of population.

       "So we really have to always adjust by looking at the data… we do have a lot of transmission at the moment, but it's not right to say that those rates are really telling us something that we can compare internationally."

       He added: "So I think when we look at these data it's really important not to sort of bash the UK with a very high case rate, because actually it's partly related to very high testing.

       "I'm not trying to deny that there's not plenty of transmission, because there is, but it's the comparisons that are problematic."

       A total of 49,753,037 Brits have now had their first dose of the vaccine, while more than 45million have had their second.

       PLAN B WARNING

       Earlier today Boris Johnson was warned triggering his Covid Plan B would cost the economy up to an eye-watering ￡18 billion over the winter.

       The PM is reluctant to bring back masks and working from home and imposing vaccine passports over the sky-high cost to businesses.

       And he's been warned by scientists that those measures might only make a marginal impact on the spread of the virus anyway.

       Business minister Paul Scully said the Government is aware of the cost of "stop start" lockdowns and doesn't want to "stifle" the recovery.

       Leaked papers drawn up officials at the Cabinet Office and Treasury predict Plan B would cost up to ￡3.6bn a month.

       Whitehall mandarins are working on the "assumption" new restrictions would stay in place until March next year.

       According to the documents, obtained by Politico, working from home would be cause the biggest hit to businesses.

       Officials say telling people to stay away from offices would only have a moderately positive impact on cutting transmission.

       They also warn the PM vaccine passports would make a negligible difference to stopping the virus whilst having a "high impact" on the economy.

       The research says Covid papers would reduce overall transmission across the country by just 1-5 percent.

       That's because though even they cut spread at mass events by 40-45 per cent, only 2-13% of new infections occur at such venues.

       And mandarins warn imposing vaccine passports could have "wider impacts" and further deepen the UK's supply chain crisis.

       The paper says they are “likely to have a positive impact in reducing transmission, although it is not possible to say accurately by how much".

       Officials said reimposing a full lockdown, which the PM insists he's not considering, would have a much greater effect on squashing the virus.

       A Government spokesman said: "We knew the coming months would be challenging, which is why we set out our autumn and winter plan last month.

       "Plan B ensures we are ready, should we need to act, to avoid an unsustainable rise in hospitalisations which would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS.

       "The presumptions put forward do not reflect government policy. There is no planned five-month timeline."

       More to follow...

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