Daily Covid-19 deaths fall below 100 for first time since October

The UK's daily Covid-19 death toll fell below 100 on Sunday for the first time since October 9.

A further 82 people have died within 28 days of a Covid-19 test, marking the first time in the second wave that fewer than 100 people have died in a day, according to the government’s official statistics.

While the case and death data published on Sunday tends to be lower than during the week due to a lag in processing figures, the fall in deaths is an encouraging sign that both the vaccine programme and lockdown are sending the virus into retreat.

The Government also said that, as of 9am on Sunday, there had been a further 5,177 lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK, the lowest since September 19.

Britain’s overall Covid-19 death toll stands at 124,501.

There has been a 34.8 per cent decline in the number of Covid-19 deaths in the past seven days while cases have fallen by 31.3 per cent.

The number of people who have now received their first dose of the vaccine has now risen to 22.2 million with 416,834 further innoculations taking place on Sunday.

When the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced the third national lockdown in January he said the speed of lifting restrictions depended on three factors; the success of the vaccination programme, the capacity of the NHS, and on the fall in deaths.

Figures show that Britain’s second wave is declining faster than predicted by scientific modelling.

The steep decline in Covid-19 deaths and cases in recent weeks has led to calls for lockdown to be eased more quickly.