UK records 30,501 new Covid cases - down 15% on last Sunday amid Christmas reporting delays - with 316 daily deaths
A further 316 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospitals in England and Wales as of today, bringing the UK total to 70,752.
The Government said that, as of 9am on Sunday, there had been a further 30,501 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, with 25,618 of those in England.
It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 2,288,345.
Today's UK covid death figure represents a 3.1 per cent drop in the number of covid-19 deaths reported compared with the same day last week, last Sunday's toll was 326.
And due to delays in reporting over Christmas government figures appear to show a 15 per cent fall in the number of new cases reported today, the number stood at 35,928.
The figures for deaths and cases are likely to be higher as Scotland is not releasing death data between December 24 and 28, and Northern Ireland is not providing either case or death data over the same period.
There were 231 deaths in England today, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 48,542 - within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test- NHS England said on Sunday.
In England the patients were aged between 30 and 103. All except five, aged between 36 and 85, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths were between December 9 and 26.
The new tolls come amid fears of mutations in coronavirus that have created a highly infectious new strain.
The UK reported 30,501 new COVID-19 cases today, with a daily toll of 316 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, government statistics showed
Today's figure represents a 3.1 per cent drop in the number of deaths compared with the same day last week, with last Sunday's toll slightly higher at 326
Another 70 people have died with coronavirus in Wales and more than 4,000 new positive cases have been identified.
The overall death total now stands at 3,368 in Wales.
There were 10 other deaths reported from the virus with no positive Covid-19 test result.
The latest available figures for hospital admissions in England, provided on Monday 21, show that 2,115 patients were admitted with Covid-19.
There are currently 18,227 coronavirus patients in hospital in England, reported on Christmas Eve, with 1,427 people in mechanical ventilation beds.
Latest figures from Public Health Wales published on December 27 show 4,142 new cases of the virus have been recorded to bring the total since the pandemic began to 139,642.