Britain has reported another 26,068 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest since 29 January, according to official figures released on Wednesday.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country now stands at 4,800,907. It was the third consecutive day that Britain has reported more than 20,000 daily cases. A total of 20,479 coronavirus cases were recorded on Tuesday.

The country also recorded another 14 coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain to 128,140. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test.

Earlier Wednesday, British Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said he expects school “bubbles” to be removed as part of the final step of England’s roadmap for lifting Covid-19 restrictions.

Speaking in the House of Commons, the lower house of British Parliament, Williamson said that he wanted to see restrictions on schools and colleges, including the bubble system, removed “as quickly as possible along with wider restrictions in society”.

“Further steps will be taken to reduce the number of children who have to self-isolate, including looking at the outcomes of a daily contact testing trial, as we consider a new model for keeping children in schools and colleges,” he said.

The British government is under growing pressure to remove or alter the bubble system after figures showed the number of children off school due to Covid-19 in England is at its highest rate since schools reopened in March after the country’s third national lockdown, according to Sky News.

Official data showed more than 375,000 pupils, about one in 20, were out of school for coronavirus-related reasons, up by more than 130,000 in a week.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a four-week delay to the final step of England’s roadmap out of Covid-19 restrictions until 19 July, amid a surge in cases of the Delta variant first identified in India.

More than 44.7 million people in Britain have received the first jab of Covid-19 vaccine and more than 32.8 million people have received two doses, the latest figures showed.