The government said a further 696 people in the UK had died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus as of Wednesday, the highest daily figure reported since May 5.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 72,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
The government said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 18,213 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.
It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,557,007.
Yesterday, the government said a further 608 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus as of Tuesday.
The government is expected to announce which tiers local authorities will be placed into tomorrow.
In Greater Manchester, a further 31 coronavirus-related deaths were recorded in the region's hospitals in the last 24 hours.
Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, has already indicated that it will be most likely that the region is placed into Tier 3.
Whereas in Lancashire, council leaders are appealing to the government to divide the county into half to reflect the varying rates of infection levels - with some districts in Tier 2 and others in Tier 3.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make an announcement tomorrow.
