Coronavirus (COVID-19) roundup: 22 December 2020

On the roundup:

• There were 2,756 deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) in England and Wales in the week ending 11 December 2020; a decrease of 79 deaths compared with the previous week (the second fall in a row).

• In total, there were 12,292 deaths across England and Wales in the week ending 11 December 2020, of which 22.4% involved COVID-19.

• Contrasting with the overall trend, the East of England, the East Midlands, the South East of England and Wales all saw an increase in COVID-19 death registrations.

• UK public borrowing was £31.6 billion in November 2020, nearly six times the £5.6 billion borrowed in November 2019.

• Public sector net debt as a ratio of GDP at the end of November 2020 was 99.5%, a level last seen in the financial year ending March 1962.

• Compared with other G7 countries, the UK experienced the largest cumulative fall in GDP in the first three quarters of 2020.

• UK business investment was especially slow to recover in Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2020 (still 19.0% down on Q4 2019); household spending was far more responsive to the reopening of the economy in the summer.

Read the roundup