The United Kingdom (UK) has reported a new daily total of 22,885 Covid-19 cases and 367 deaths, according to Sky News.

This is the highest number of deaths in a daily figure recorded since May 27, when 422 deaths were reported.

There have now been a total of 917,575 cases and 45,365 deaths in the UK.

Rising cases

According to The Guardian, figures reported on a Tuesday tend to be higher due to the delay in reporting deaths over the weekend.

Back in September, the government's chief medical and scientific advisers warned that the UK could see 50,000 daily cases of Covid-19 by October and 200 deaths a day in November.

According to a comment highlighted by The Telegraph:

"It’s true that a lot more testing is being done today than when the pandemic first hit, so you would expect to find more cases of it than back then.

But also rising fast is the case positivity rate -- that is the number of positive tests as a proportion of the total -- suggesting that the infection is once again rampant."

Eat out to help out

The UK's sharp spike in cases might have been linked to a government initiative called "Eat Out to Help Out."

Back in July, with relatively low cases, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a plan called "Eat Out to Help Out" to help the restaurant industry.

The government would pay for half of a restaurant bill, up to 10 pounds (S$17.77). At the time, there were no mask requirements in most restaurants, and it would take place from Aug. 3 to Aug. 31.

The scheme was activated an estimated 100 million times during the timeframe.

Vox reported: "There are no currently published medical studies definitively linking the rise in UK cases beginning in early September to the increased visits to restaurants throughout August. But it’s hard to think otherwise."

Johnson himself has conceded that the scheme may have had an impact on the number of Covid-19 cases.

Bloomberg reported that Johnson defended the move to help protect millions of hospitality industry jobs, and said: "It was very important to keep those jobs going... Insofar as that scheme may have helped to spread the virus, then obviously we need to counteract that."

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