A NHS Covid worker
(Picture: PA)The number of new Covid infections fell slightly again on Saturday, but the number of deaths has increased, figures show.
According to Government data, there were 26,144 new Covid cases and 71 deaths on Saturday.
It is the tenth day in a row that infection rates have fallen.
Some 192,251 new cases have been recorded in the past seven days, the data suggests.
Sky News reports the figures mean positive cases have decreased 33 per cent in the past seven days but deaths have increased by 9.2 per cent across the same period.
On Friday the statistics showed there were 29,622 new Covid cases and 68 deaths.
On Thursday, there were 31,117 new cases and 85 deaths.
Meanwhile, 35,773 people received their first vaccine on Friday, taking the overall total to 46,811,298.
164,295 had their second jab, meaning 38,126,702 are now double jabbed.
Earlier in the week, it was confirmed there had been a small fall in the coronavirus reproduction number, or R value, in England which is between 1.1 and 1.4, according to the latest Government figures.
Last week, it was between 1.2 and 1.4.
R represents the average number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect.
When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially but when it is below 1, it means the epidemic is shrinking.
On Saturday, a Government adviser said people could be refusing to get tested for coronavirus in a bid to avoid having to self-isolate.
Professor Robert West, a member of the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (Spi-B), which advises ministers, said it could be a factor in the difference between the high infection rate in the UK and the decrease in daily positive cases.
