Another 1,040 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing Britain's total caseload to 317,379.
The figure is only 22 cases smaller than the 1,062 reported last Sunday - which came almost a fortnight after Boris Johnson predicted a second wave in two weeks.
Yesterday saw Britain's highest Saturday infection total in eight weeks with 1,012 new cases while Friday saw another 1,441 people test positive in the biggest one-day jump for two months.
Concerns of a second major surge had been rising in recent weeks as local lockdowns sprung up in the Midlands and North of England, and Boris Johnson said he must 'squeeze the brakes' on easing rules at the end of July.
The rising numbers of positive tests have ignited fears that the virus is rebounding and sliding out of control.
Another 1,040 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing Britain's total caseload to 317,379
A further five people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in the UK, figures that cover deaths in hospitals, care homes and the wider community show
But on Friday, top experts dismissed concerns and believe the spike is merely down to more targeted testing in hotspots.
A further five people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in the UK, figures that cover deaths in hospitals, care homes and the wider community show.
Scotland reported 43 new cases and no deaths, while Wales reported 18 cases and two deaths.
Today's figures follow reports that Matt Hancock is axing Public Health England and will replace it with a new body to deal specifically with a pandemic as early as next month.
Matt Hancock is axing Public Health England and will replace it with a new body to deal specifically with a pandemic as early as next month. The Health Secretary will announce this week that the pandemic response work of PHE will be merged with NHS Test and Trace
According to The Sunday Telegraph, the new body - the National Institute for Health Protection - will become 'effective' next month but will take until spring 2021 to totally break up PHE, an executive agency of the Department for Health
The Health Secretary will announce this week that the pandemic response work of PHE will be merged with NHS Test and Trace.
According to The Sunday Telegraph, the new National Institute for Health Protection will become 'effective' next month though it will take until spring 2021 to totally break up PHE, an executive agency of the Department for Health.
Thousands more people may die of cancer after urgent hospital referrals plunged by 250,000 during lockdown compared with last year, report warns
Thousands of people could die of cancer after the number of urgent hospital referrals plunged by 43 per cent during lockdown.
As fewer patients see their GPs with cancer symptoms - before being referred to specialists for scans - the disease is being picked up too late, experts fear.
GPs made 339,242 urgent referrals for people with cancer symptoms between April and June in England, more than 250,000 fewer than the 594,060 figure reported in the same months in 2019.
There are also delays in accessing the necessary treatments and diagnoses once a patient goes to hospital, a study by healthcare management consultancy Carnall Farrar and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) found.
Researchers believe the lockdown numbers could have a detrimental effect on the country's cancer survival rate while setting Britain's progress in getting a grip on the disease back by ten years.
They have urged the NHS to 'build back better' as cancer services begin to reach their full capacity again.
Lung cancer's five-year survival rates will drop from 16.2 per cent to 15.4 per cent for those diagnosed in 2020 - the same outcome seen in 2017.
The survival rate for colorectal cancer for the same period has dropped from 58.4 per cent to 56.1 per cent - the same rate it stood at in 2010.
Cancer charities said the results are 'stark' and show the effect of cancer services being 'derailed' during the coronavirus crisis, The Sunday Times reports.
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Tory peer Baroness Harding, the ex-TalkTalk boss who currently runs NHS Test and Trace, is being tipped to lead the organisation, the paper said.
It follows reports that the government has been frustrated with PHE during the coronavirus crisis, with Boris Johnson slamming its 'sluggish' response.
The move also comes amid fears of a second Covid wave this winter, with parts of the UK grappling with lockdowns as infections rise.
Meanwhile a senior minister said the new body's goal will be 'to ensure that Britain is one of the best equipped countries in the world to fight the pandemic'.
They told the paper: 'We want to bring together the science and the scale in one new body so we can do all we can to stop a second coronavirus spike this autumn.'
The move is aimed at bringing together the science expertise at PHE and scale of the NHS Test and Trace operation in one new body, so that the country can be prepared to stop a potential second coronavirus spike this autumn.
The institute's new chief will report to ministers at the Department of Health and to Professor Chris Whitty, England's Chief Medical Officer, in a move which gives political appointees direct control over its response to pandemics.
Test and Trace call centres will be wound down over the next few months and replaced by local teams run by councils.
PHE's anti-obesity will also be handed over to local councils and doctors, who are being encouraged to intervene to encourage people to lose weight.
The model for the new institute is the Robert Koch Institute in Germany, which published daily situation reports during the Covid outbreak.
Meanwhile the Health and Safety Executive, run by Tory MP Sarah Newton, will assist companies in getting more staff back to work.
Ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'The one thing consistent about Public Health England is that almost everything it has touched has failed.'
A DHSC spokesman said: 'Public Health England have played an integral role in our national response to this unprecedented global pandemic.
'We have always been clear that we must learn the right lessons from this crisis to ensure that we are in the strongest possible position, both as we continue to deal with Covid-19 and to respond to any future public health threat.'
A government source told The Sunday Telegraph: 'One of the many problems with PHE is that it has been spread too thin during the full pandemic.
Tory peer Baroness Harding, the ex-TalkTalk boss who currently runs NHS Test and Trace, is being tipped to lead the organisation, the paper reported
'Instead of having an organisation that is constantly on alert for pandemics you have an organisation that has been concentrating on prevention of ill-health.'
PHE was criticised for not having enough diagnostic testing capacity to properly track the progress of the virus early in the pandemic.
Health officials are also furious with PHE for counting all deaths from Covid, rather than just those within the first 28 days of contracting the virus.
Four young men died when the car they were travelling in left the road and crashed into a house in Wiltshire, catching fire.
Emergency crews were called to the scene on the A4 London Rd, Derry Hill near Chippenham at about 03:00 BST.
Police said the four occupants of the vehicle - some believed to be in their late teens - died at the scene.
No-one inside the house was injured, and all were evacuated while fire crews tackled the blaze.
Wiltshire Police Det Supt Steve Cox said: "This was an absolutely horrific collision on our roads in the early hours of this morning.
"All blue light services attended the scene and were met with devastating scenes after a vehicle travelling along the A4 collided with a house and caught on fire.
"All four occupants of the vehicle died at the scene. Their families have been informed and we are in the process of assigning each family with specialist trained officers.
"My thoughts, and the thoughts of all at Wiltshire Police are with them all today."
Four young men have died after a car crashed into a house on the A4 in Wiltshire during the early hours of Sunday, police have said.
Wiltshire Police said the collision took place on the A4 in Derry Hill, near Calne, at 3am.
A vehicle crashed into the side of a house and subsequently caught fire.
The occupants of the house immediately called 999 and were evacuated while the fire service extinguished the blaze.
Nobody inside the house was injured.
Four young men have died after a car crashed into a house on the A4 in Wiltshire during the early hours of Sunday, police have said. Derry Hill pictured above
The four occupants of the vehicle - all young males from the local area - died at the scene, police said.
Superintendent Steve Cox, of Wiltshire Police, said: 'This was an absolutely horrific collision on our roads in the early hours of this morning.
'All blue light services attended the scene and were met with devastating scenes after a vehicle travelling along the A4 collided with a house and caught on fire.
'All four occupants of the vehicle died at the scene. Their families have been informed and we are in the process of assigning each family with specialist trained officers.
'My thoughts and the thoughts of all at Wiltshire Police are with them all today.'
Police said the A4 and the A342 remain closed while investigation and recovery work is ongoing at the scene of the collision.
The government and the exams regulator are being threatened with legal action as pressure mounts for a rethink over the awarding of A-level grades.
Hundreds of angry students are demonstrating in Westminster, with some chanting "get Gav gone" and "come out Gavin" as they protested outside Education Secretary Gavin Williamson's departmental building.
Footage has also been shared online of one student burning her A-level results in Parliament Square.
Around 280,000 students saw their A-level grades fall by one grade or more from their predicted results following the introduction of a new "moderation" algorithm, which was put in place after the coronavirus lockdown led to exams being cancelled.
Further confusion was added to the row on Saturday night when Ofqual, the exams regulator, suddenly suspended its own policy for students wishing to appeal their results.
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How the A-level algorithm works
Just hours after Ofqual published its criteria for mock exam results to be considered as the basis of an appeal, the guidance was withdrawn and the regulator said it was reviewing the policy.
"Earlier today we published information about mock exam results in appeals," Ofqual said in a statement.
More from A-levels
"This policy is being reviewed by the Ofqual Board and further information will be published in due course."
Mr Williamson had been accused of abandoning his promise of a "triple lock" for students following the announcement of Ofqual's criteria for using mock exams in appeals.
He has said pupils can use their mock results, resit exams in the autumn, or accept the grade they had been awarded.
The Ofqual guidance said that if the mock result was higher than the teacher's prediction, it was the teacher's prediction which would count.
Conservative MP Robert Halfon, the chair of the House of Commons' Education Committee, branded Ofqual's actions "unacceptable" as he called for the "huge mess" to be sorted out.
Many other unhappy Tory MPs were said to be making their views known to the party's whips.
Labour claimed the A-level results row was a "fiasco turning from tragedy to farce" as they called on Boris Johnson to "get a grip".
They demanded the prime minister hold a news conference within the next 24 hours to explain to parents, teachers and young people "how he will end this historic injustice".
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT head teachers' union, said it was "quite clear that the rules are being written and rewritten on the hoof" and that thousands of students were "suffering" as a result.
He called on the government and Ofqual automatically to review the 25,000 results which were two or more grades below their teachers' predictions.
Students have been left furious by the new system, with many losing their places on their chosen university courses after not meeting the required grades.
School leavers entering a highly-competitive jobs market are also fearing the impact of their predicted results being downgraded.
Campaigners have promised to begin High Court proceedings against Mr Williamson and Ofqual this week unless they perform a climbdown on the use of the algorithim.
Jolyon Maugham QC, who heads the Good Law Project, told Sky News: "This morning we sent a letter to Ofqual, copying in Gavin Williamson.
"We make three points in that letter; we say, firstly, the absence of an appeal system - a meaningful appeal system - for individual students is unlawful.
"Second, we say the system - taken as a whole - is so unfair as also to be unlawful.
"And thirdly, we point to Ofqual's statutory obligation to ensure that accurate grades are delivered and we say that its failure to do that, again, is unlawful."
Image:Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has been sent notice of legal action
Ofqual has defended its moderation of A-level grades, saying that some schools and colleges had submitted "implausibly high" A-level predictions.
But Mr Maugham argued the regulator "hasn't really paid enough attention to the quality of individual students".
He accused Ofqual of "embedding structural inequality" following widespread criticism that the regulator's algorithm disproportionately penalised students from schools in disadvantaged communities.
PM defends A-level results as 'robust'
The Sunday Times reported other students and parents are considering legal action, including Curtis Parfitt-Ford - a student whose petition calling for a fairer system has now been signed by more than 225,000 people.
Meanwhile, The Observer reported more than 4.6 million GCSEs in England - about 97% of the total - will be assigned solely by Ofqual's algorithm.
Lord Baker, a former Conservative education secretary, called for the postponement of the publication of GCSE results for two weeks due to the "unfair and barely explicable downgrades" of A-levels.
He told the PA news agency: "I urge the education secretary to instruct Ofqual not to release the GCSEs results this Thursday as their algorithm is flawed."
Natalie Perera, executive director of the Education Policy Institute think tank, told the newspaper: "We will almost certainly see a repeat of the many problems seen with A-levels, only with GCSEs they could be more severe."
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Ofqual has a robust model in place to ensure results this year are fair for pupils despite them not having been able to sit exams this year.
"Standardisation ensures grades are fair for students and without it, we would see results that are substantially inflated, significantly undermining their value."
The government has confirmed schools in England will be able to appeal against A-level and GCSE grades for free.
State-funded schools and colleges will also be able to claim back the cost of unsuccessful appeals as well as fees for autumn exams, the Department for Education said.
Students in Wales will also be able to appeal against their A-level grades if they are lower than teachers' predictions.
The Welsh government announced the plan following an outcry over 42% of all A-level grades in the country being lowered during the moderation process.
The government and the exams regulator are being threatened with legal action as pressure mounts for a rethink over the awarding of A-level grades.
Around 280,000 students saw their A-level grades fall by one grade or more from their predicted results following the introduction of a new "moderation" algorithm, which was put in place after the coronavirus lockdown led to exams being cancelled.
Further confusion was added to the row on Saturday night when Ofqual, the exams regulator, suddenly suspended its own policy for students wishing to appeal their results.
How the A-level algorithm works
Just hours after Ofqual published its criteria for mock exam results to be considered as the basis of an appeal, the guidance was withdrawn and the regulator said it was reviewing the policy.
"Earlier today we published information about mock exam results in appeals," Ofqual said in a statement.
Advertisement
"This policy is being reviewed by the Ofqual Board and further information will be published in due course."
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson had been accused of abandoning his promise of a "triple lock" for students following the announcement of Ofqual's criteria for using mock exams in appeals.
More from A-levels
He has said pupils can use their mock results, resit exams in the autumn, or accept the grade they had been awarded
The Ofqual guidance said that if the mock result was higher than the teacher's prediction, it was the teacher's prediction which would count.
Conservative MP Robert Halfon, the chair of the House of Commons' Education Committee, branded Ofqual's actions "unacceptable" as he called for the "huge mess" to be sorted out.
Many other unhappy Tory MPs were said to be making their views known to the party's whips.
Labour claimed the A-level results row was a "fiasco turning from tragedy to farce" as they called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to "get a grip".
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT head teachers' union, said it was "quite clear that the rules are being written and rewritten on the hoof" and that thousands of students were "suffering" as a result.
He called on the government and Ofqual automatically to review the 25,000 results which were two or more grades below their teachers' predictions.
Students have been left furious by the new system, with many losing their places on their chosen university courses after not meeting the required grades.
School leavers entering a highly-competitive jobs market are also fearing the impact of their predicted results being downgraded.
Campaigners have promised to begin High Court proceedings against Mr Williamson and Ofqual this week unless they perform a climbdown on the use of the algorithim.
Jolyon Maugham QC, who heads the Good Law Project, told Sky News: "This morning we sent a letter to Ofqual, copying in Gavin Williamson.
"We make three points in that letter; we say, firstly, the absence of an appeal system - a meaningful appeal system - for individual students is unlawful.
"Second, we say the system - taken as a whole - is so unfair as also to be unlawful.
"And thirdly, we point to Ofqual's statutory obligation to ensure that accurate grades are delivered and we say that its failure to do that, again, is unlawful."
Image:Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has been sent notice of legal action
Ofqual has defended its moderation of A-level grades, saying that some schools and colleges had submitted "implausibly high" A-level predictions.
But Mr Maugham argued the regulator "hasn't really paid enough attention to the quality of individual students".
He accused Ofqual of "embedding structural inequality" following widespread criticism that the regulator's algorithm disproportionately penalised students from schools in disadvantaged communities.
PM defends A-level results as 'robust'
The Sunday Times reported other students and parents are considering legal action, including Curtis Parfitt-Ford - a student whose petition calling for a fairer system has now been signed by more than 225,000 people.
Meanwhile, The Observer reported more than 4.6 million GCSEs in England - about 97% of the total - will be assigned solely by Ofqual's algorithm.
Lord Baker, a former Conservative education secretary, called for the postponement of the publication of GCSE results for two weeks due to the "unfair and barely explicable downgrades" of A-levels.
He told the PA news agency: "I urge the education secretary to instruct Ofqual not to release the GCSEs results this Thursday as their algorithm is flawed."
Natalie Perera, executive director of the Education Policy Institute think tank, told the newspaper: "We will almost certainly see a repeat of the many problems seen with A-levels, only with GCSEs they could be more severe."
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Ofqual has a robust model in place to ensure results this year are fair for pupils despite them not having been able to sit exams this year.
"Standardisation ensures grades are fair for students and without it, we would see results that are substantially inflated, significantly undermining their value."
The government has confirmed schools in England will be able to appeal against A-level and GCSE grades for free.
State-funded schools and colleges will also be able to claim back the cost of unsuccessful appeals as well as fees for autumn exams, the Department for Education said.
Students in Wales will also be able to appeal against their A-level grades if they are lower than teachers' predictions.
The Welsh government announced the plan following an outcry over 42% of all A-level grades in the country being lowered during the moderation process.
