Covid-19 deaths have risen by 110, in the lowest Tuesday toll since lockdown began.
The Government said 45,422 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Monday, up by 110 from the day before.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 56,100 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The Government also said in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Tuesday, there had been a further 445 lab-confirmed cases. Overall, a total of 295,817 cases have been confirmed.
Mr Hancock told the Commons Science and Technology Committee that his priority is “controlling the virus and preparing for winter”.
When asked if he was engaged in reforming Public Health England (PHE), Mr Hancock said: “Well there will be a time for that, my priority now is on controlling the virus and preparing for winter.
“For now, my focus is on getting the virus down, controlling the level of the virus and preparing for winter.
“So for instance, PHE is doing incredibly important work right now in local lockdowns, in local action.
“There are PHE boots on the ground in Leicester and they’re working with Blackburn and Bradford and all of the other areas where we’ve got a much higher prevalence than elsewhere.”
