NEW figures have revealed that nearly 100,000 people are contracting coronavirus every day in England.

A study by Imperial College London has found that the pace of transmission is accelerating and the number of people infected is doubling every nine days.

Scientists behind the study say the epidemic is at a "critical stage" and urgent action is needed.

The study used swabs from 86,000 participants, taken this past weekend.

Findings from the widespread React-1 study show that cases are rising in every age group and every region of England.

The North of England sees the highest number of cases but transmission is rising more quickly in the South.

Swabs taken in this study were compared to a previous investigation which used swabs taken in September. The findings revealed that the number of people infected has more than doubled since then with one in 78 people testing positive.

Between that time the R-number has increased from 1.15 to 1.56