Britain reported 60,578 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and a further 259 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, as numbers drifted lower following a wave of Omicron cases at the turn of the year.

The number of new cases in the past seven days was down 4.2% on a week before at 599,229, while the number of deaths was 5.4% down on the previous week at 1,729.