The UK has recorded its highest daily Covid-19 death toll in over six months.
There have been 608 more coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest figure since May 12.
The grim tally has been announced on the same day politicians agreed to let people mix over Christmas.
Up to three households can form up a bubble between December 23 and 27, despite fears it will cause the virus to spread.
However the current lockdown, which ends on December 2, does appear to be cutting into the infection rate.
There were 11,299 new cases announced on Tuesday - down from the 15,450 recorded on Monday.
Cases are also falling in the North East, a lthough it may be too late to avoid the region having Tier Three restrictions imposed once lockdown ends. A decision on that will be announced on Thursday.
Nationally, over 55,000 people have now died from the virus, with more than 1.5m confirmed infections.
However there is growing hope that the end of the pandemic may now be in sight, with the Government confident it can soon roll-out a mass vaccination programme after a trio of jabs were shown to work.
On Monday, Boris Johnson said that he hoped the vaccine meant that life could go back to "normal" by Easter.
