New coronavirus infections reached their highest point this month today, with 42,408 new cases recorded.
That figure, released by the Department of Health, is the highest daily total since October 29, when 43,467 new cases were confirmed.
Covid-19 claimed the lives of 195 more people in the UK today, 19 fewer than died this time last week.
Yesterday more than 39,329 new cases were recorded in the country, the highest total since 41,299 infections were reported last Wednesday.
A further 214 people died within 28 days of catching the virus yesterday, a slight fall on last Wednesday's 217.
Covid deaths remain at their highest consistent level since the Spring, while infections are among the highest in Europe but roughly a fifth lower than they were a month ago.
In more positive news, 11.4million people have now had a booster jab, bringing the total number of Covid vaccines dolled out in the UK to more than 90.4 million dose.
While the number of people dying each day is far lower than the pandemic's peak in January, each day tragedy is befalling on dozens of families.
Among them is a baby who died with Covid after her mother refused to be vaccinated.
Little Ivy-Rose Court tested positive for coronavirus when she was born 14 weeks premature weighing just 2lb 30z.
Speaking for the first time since her death, mum Katie Leeming, 22, said she did not get vaccinated after hearing 'horror stories' about the effects of the jab on mums-to-be on pregnancy forums online.
After catching Covid, she was so sick that she had to give birth at just 26 weeks.
Experts have repeatedly said the jabs are safe for mums-to-be and their babies.
But Katie said she had no regrets as she believed there had been 'too little' research into the effects on pregnancies.
And she said her partner had caught Covid despite being double-jabbed.
The mum-of-three, of Blackpool, Lancs., said: "I had read about the Covid-19 vaccination on pregnancy groups.
"One lady said she had received the vaccination and that her baby was stillborn the week after.
"There obviously could have been other reasons for this, and the vaccine might not have caused it, but it scared me and put me off.
"Just hearing the horror stories about women having miscarriages made me not want to take the risk.
"I don't know if it would have made a difference or not. I had thoughts in my mind about it - what if I'd had it? Would she still be here today? What if it's my fault?
"But my midwife told me I can't afford to think like that.
"I could have still caught Covid-19 after the vaccination, or worse, if I did have it and something happened anyway, I would have blamed the vaccine."
Katie came down with cold-like symptoms in early October and a PCR test confirmed she had caught Covid-19.
She said: "When I found out I had Covid-19, at first I felt absolutely fine.
"I had normal flu-ish symptoms for the first couple of days, and then on day seven I began having palpitations in my chest and my heart rate soared.
"That day, I didn't feel the baby move at all, and that's why I decided to get in touch with the hospital.
"It was there they said that the baby's heart rate wasn't as it should have been, and they had to deliver her there and then.
"I have had two other premature children, so I knew what I was expecting, and what the risks were.
"But I was trying to be as positive as I could, knowing how my other children survived. It wasn't until five days later, when she caught Covid, that she started deteriorating.
"On October 21, she started going down quickly. They told us to go in and be with her, because they weren't sure she was going to make it through the night."
Katie, a bakery assistant who lives with her partner Lee Court and sons Alfie, four, and Charlie, three, said she was 'shocked' by Ivy-Rose's rapid decline, as her daughter had appeared 'stable' just 24 hours before.
But doctors at the Royal Preston Hospital neonatal unit, where she was transferred after being born at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, said the infant's heart rate and oxygen levels had severely declined.
She continued to deteriorate, and the heartbreaking decision was made to switch off her life support in the early hours of October 22.
Katie added: "By 11pm, they said too much damage had been done, and the kindest thing to do would be to let her go.
"But they gave us a few hours to hold her and be with her.
"Every hour is different. I have been through all the stages of grief and back again.
"I've gone from feeling completely numb, feeling as if nothing has happened and expecting to feel the baby's movements - because I should still be pregnant with her - to completely heartbroken about how it all happened. I'm devastated."
Katie and Lee are now hoping to prepare a spectacular send-off for their daughter, with flowers and a horse-drawn carriage.
Katie's friend Simone Threlfall, 25, set up a fund-raiser to help with funeral costs.
She said: "You don't expect to have to pay for your child's funeral. There's nothing that anyone can do to prepare for such a terrible thing.
"There's nothing we can do to make it right. All we can do is help. Katie would never ask for help, but when I told her about the fundraiser she was relieved; it was like a weight had been lifted. It's something so small, but it can mean a lot."
A spokesman for Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust added: "We are deeply saddened about the death of Ivy-Rose and all our thoughts are with her family at this incredibly sad time."
Visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/funeral-costs-and-expenses-for-baby-ivyrose? to donate to Simone's Go Fund Me page.
