Every region in England and Wales experienced a higher number of deaths than usual in the first days of national lockdown - with Covid fatalities rising in all but one.
This morning figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed that the UK's Covid death toll has passed 100,000.
It means the country joins the USA, Brazil, Mexico and India in reaching the grim milestone.
And in the second week of 2021, the virus was mentioned on 7,766 death certificates, with Wales, the South East and the East England enduring their highest losses since the start of the pandemic.
Covid-19 accounted for more than four out of 10 deaths in the week ending January 15, ONS data revealed this morning.
In London the overall number of deaths was 84.1 per cent higher than the five-year average during that week.
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More than half of fatalities in the capital had coronavirus mentioned on the death certificate.
In the same week Wales recorded 454 Covid deaths - the highest seven day figure of the pandemic so far.
The East of England and the South East also recorded their highest number of weekly deaths involving Covid-19.
Just one region, Yorkshire and The Humber, showed a drop in Covid deaths compared to the previous week.
Since January 15 there has seen a fall in the daily numbers of confirmed deaths.
Covid deaths by region in the week ending January 15, compared to the week before
- South East - 1,411 (up from 1,197)
- London - 1,272 (up from 1,047)
- East of England - 1,096 (up from 816)
- North West - 731 (up from 644)
- North East - 249 (up from 229)
- West Midlands - 716 (up from 550)
- East Midlands - 500 (up from 440)
- Wales - 467 (up from 454)
- South West - 398 (up from 285)
- Yorkshire and The Humber - 394 (down from 425)
Data released this morning reveals that by January 15, coronavirus had been mentioned on 103,704 death certificates.
And the latest picture is even more bleak, as a further 7,698 deaths have been confirmed since - meaning the total now stands at around 115,782.
In the week to January 15, coronavirus was mentioned on 7,766 death certificates - up from 6,057 deaths in the seven days to January 8.
This is the highest figure since the week ending April 24.
It comes as the government weighs up moves to tighten the UK's borders - as was done in countries across the world months ago.
Today the government's Covid-19 vaccine minister, Nadhim Zahawi, said it was too early to say if there would be a return to normality by the summer.
He said: "I think it's far too early.
"There's still 37,000 people in hospital with Covid at the moment, it's far too early for us to even speculate about the summer."
Data shows 40.2 per cent of all deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to January 15 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate - the highest proportion recorded since the pandemic began.
The number of deaths registered in the UK in the week ending 15 January 2021 was 20,019, which was 4,347 higher than the five-year average.
Boris Johnson is set to sign off a plan today to tighten up the UK’s borders - almost a year since Britain’s first Covid case.
Travellers into the UK - including returning Brits - will have to quarantine in guarded hotels for 10 days to stop new variants spreading.
And they are expected to have to pay for their own stay - which will reportedly cost north of £1,000.
But ministers are still embroiled in a dispute about whether to slap hotel quarantine on all arrivals, or only some of them.
