A total of 117,378 deaths had occurred in the UK by 22 January where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.

So far there have been 14 consecutive days in January – from 7 to 20 January – when the daily death toll was above 1,000.

This could change as more deaths are registered for the second half of the month.

During the first wave of the virus in April 2020, there were 23 consecutive days when the death toll – based on death certificates – was above 1,000.

All regions of England recorded an increase in registered Covid-19 deaths in the week to 22 January, the ONS said.

Three regions saw more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths registered: southeast England (1,734 deaths – the highest weekly total since the pandemic began); London (1,400 deaths – the highest since the week to April 24 2020); and eastern England (1,216 deaths – the highest since the pandemic began).

Coronavirus vaccines may be less effective against new variants of the disease but should still prevent serious illness, a senior researcher has said.

Professor Robin Shattock, who is leading Covid-19 vaccine research at Imperial College London, said scientists are working on vaccines which could counter new variants like the one that had emerged in South Africa.

“We can make these vaccines in the lab in a three-week process but then, to actually get them manufactured, that would take two to three months to get to the manufacturing stage and into the clinic,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“That is still quite fast – and we need to remember that more changes may occur – but these vaccines won’t go from working well to not working at all.”

The return of some school pupils in Scotland is set to be announced, as top adviser Professor Jason Leitch claims “progress” is being made against the coronavirus.

National clinical director Prof Leitch told the BBC his recommendation to ministers is that younger children can return, although he is reluctant to say older pupils – who will be working towards qualifications – can do the same.

“We’re heading in the right direction,” he said. “I can break the secret – you definitely won’t see all of lockdown lifted, but there is progress and therefore you’ve got to think, as public health advisers, what is the first thing you should do?

“The most important thing is children. That’s what we’ve trailed in the last few weeks that, if we can, we will get some kids back to school.”

Prof Leitch added that, although it looks as though some pupils will return, schools will not go back to normal.

Police broke up a party attended by more than 50 people in Bristol in breach of Covid-19 rules.

Several revellers fled the bash when officers from Avon and Somerset Police arrived.

Fixed penalty notices of £800 were issued to 13 people, while six others were given formal warnings.

Music equipment was also seized from the property.

The incident was among more than 12 reports of house parties across the force area over the weekend, with officers issuing 47 fixed penalty notices in total.

About 150 volunteers are due to start the door-to-door delivery of coronavirus testing kits in Woking to help identify any cases of the South African variant in the Surrey town.

A first briefing was held this morning outside the fire station, with local officials hoping the operation will take four or five days.

Plans involve delivering PCR tests, which are not compulsory, for some 9,500 residents living in an area within the GU21 postcode.

Volunteers will drop off testing kits and return later in the day to collect them before the tests are sent off to a lab to be examined for the South African strain. Homes will be revisited on another occasion if people are not in.

A spokeswoman for Surrey County Council said the tests are to be completed by members of households over the age of 18.

Sage member Professor Andrew Hayward said the South African variant has been identified in at least 30 countries around the world including Europe, America, and other parts of Africa.

On the effectiveness of vaccines, the professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London said “whilst you may have reduced effectiveness against preventing disease, quite often what happens with these vaccines is that they’ll still prevent against severe disease”.

He added: “And so we would expect the vaccines to still be very worthwhile and very good at preventing severe disease.

“Of course we’ve got a lot staked on the effects of these vaccines, and that’s why I think it’s really appropriate to take every measure that we can to try and stop the emergence of the strain.”

A scientist involved in advising the government has said it is important to try to “snuff out” the South African variant of the coronavirus.

Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said: “It is very important to take every opportunity now to catch the so-called South African variant, suppress it, keep it down and allow the vaccine schedule to get ahead of it,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“The huge effort to test and trace and observe for reinfections and readmissions is incredibly important to help us understand what is going on here, but the honest answer is that we really just don’t know about the clinical importance of this.

“But certainly we don’t want a virus like this spreading throughout our community and taking advantage of the lack of immunity that we currently have.”

A government minister has warned the coronavirus pandemic has reached a “very perilous stage”.

Universities minister Michelle Donelan said it was essential people followed the rules following the disclosure that 11 cases of a new South African variant had been identified which were not linked to travel.

“It is still a very perilous stage of this virus. We have got this new variant that is spreading so we do have to be extra vigilant and really abide by those rules to the letter, and also contemplate every action and every activity that we do,” she told Sky News.

Ms Donelan rejected suggestions that the government should have moved to close the borders to stop new variants reaching the UK.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said he hoped hotel quarantine would be brought in “as soon as possible”.

He told BBC Breakfast: “We haven’t got a go-live date yet. I would like it to be as soon as possible but the airport’s been very thorough in its preparations.”

Asked if there are hotels ready and waiting, he said: “There are plenty of hotels on the Birmingham Airport campus that could be put to this use very swiftly.”