UK Covid cases are at their highest recorded level since the start of the pandemic, a study shows - as NHS chiefs in the UK's worst hotspots warn hospitals are full.
New figures suggest one in 16 people had the virus in the last three weeks of March - the highest since research started in May 2020.
But official Department of Health data shows the number of confirmed infections fell by nearly a third in a week - days after free lateral flow tests were scrapped across England.
