There are grave concerns about the capacity of Britain’s hospitals to cope with the latest surge in coronavirus cases, with doctors warning of difficult choices ahead.

Britain’s government reported 53,135 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number since mass testing started in mid-2020 and up sharply from the previous mark of 41,385 set on Monday (local time).

The number of new deaths recorded within 28 days of a positive COVID test has also risen to 414 from Monday’s 357, taking the total since the start of the pandemic to 71,567.

Calls are growing for the whole of the UK to be placed under a new lockdown and for a delayed return to schools to help ease the load on the National Health Service, which is said to be dangerously overburdened.

This could potentially entail the creation of a new tier 5 in England – which would be tougher than tier 4, the category London and much of southern England is already under.

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Britain vies with Italy for Europe’s highest death toll from the disease and is now battling a new variant that scientists say can spread more rapidly.

“We are continuing to see unprecedented levels of COVID-19 infection across the UK, which is of extreme concern particularly as our hospitals are at their most vulnerable,” Susan Hopkins, a senior medical adviser to Public Health England, said.

Ms Hopkins added that some of the daily rise in cases reflected reporting delays due to Christmas, but that figures were “largely a reflection of a real increase”.

Health Minister Matt Hancock will give an update on regional coronavirus restrictions in the UK on Wednesday.

Earlier on Tuesday a leading epidemiologist who advises the government, Andrew Hayward, warned that Britain was heading for “catastrophe” over the coming weeks if it did not take tougher action against the more infectious variant of the disease.

Just less than half of England’s population, centred around London and neighbouring regions in the south, is currently under the tightest form of COVID restriction.

Under these rules non-essential shops and most other businesses are closed to the public, and almost all face-to-face socialising is prohibited.

However in most of Britain rules were relaxed to allow families to meet on Christmas Day, which many health officials said risked causing a spike in infections.

-with agencies