The UK's coronavirus death toll has increased by 290 - a 35 per cent drop on last Saturday's total - with the lowest daily number of confirmed cases since September.
A total of 122,705 have now died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, the fifth highest toll in the world.
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 143,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
Saturday's toll of 290 is the lowest since 230 fatalities were reported on December 26, though the total that day, Boxing Day, was lower due to some UK nations not reporting figures on the bank holiday.
The daily death tolls announced on recent Saturdays were 445 on February 20, 621 on February 13, 828 on February 6 and 1,200 on January 30.
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There have now been a total of 4,170,519 lab-confirmed cases in the UK since the pandemic began more than a year ago, with Saturday's total of 7,434 a decrease of 29 per cent on last week.
It is the lowest daily total since 6,042 cases were announced on September 26.
On recent Saturdays, the number of confirmed cases increased by 10,406 on February 20, 13,308 on February 13, 18,262 on February 6 and 23,275 on January 30.
Deaths and cases have been in decline for weeks, but Britons have been warned to stick to lockdown rules due to a rise in infections in some local areas.
Of the 315 local areas in England, 55 (17 per cent) have seen a rise in case rates in the seven days to February 22, the most recent data available.
The biggest week-on-week increases were seen in North Warwickshire (up from 183.9 to 246.7), Tamworth (191.7 to 250.3) and South Holland (163.1 to 198.9).
20 million jabs
Government data up to February 26 shows that of the 20,450,858 jabs given in the UK so far, 19,682,048 were first doses - a rise of 504,493 on the previous day.
Some 768,810 were second doses, an increase of 32,773 on figures released the previous day.
Earlier, the UK's hospital death toll increased by 293, a 17 per cent decline from the previous Saturday's total (355 fatalities on February 20).
It came as a former Government scientific adviser said the move to continue the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine by age rather than prioritising frontline professions "makes sense".
Professor Sir Mark Walport, former chief scientific adviser to the Government, said the strategy maximised the number of vaccines on a basis of the most vulnerable.
Sir Mark told BBC Breakfast: "The rollout is going in such an efficient way by doing it through the ages.
"Of course, there will be many teachers, many police, who are in the 40-50 age group and indeed who will have been immunised already. So, it does make sense.
"It's still the case that most of the vulnerability, including in those professions which mix with a lot of people, is still with the older members of those cohorts, and so this is a strategy that maximises the number of vaccines and does it on a basis of the most vulnerable."
He added: "An age-related rollout fits with where people get the worst disease and are at higher risk of dying."
His comments come after teaching unions and police officers said the Government had let people down by not prioritising the frontline professions.
Here is a look at the Covid-19 situation in each UK nation on Saturday.
England
NHS England reported a further 257 coronavirus deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed reported fatalities in hospitals in England to 82,974.
The latest victims were aged between 23 and 98 years old.
All except seven (aged 45 to 95 years old) had known underlying health conditions.
A total of 17,254,844 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between December 8 and February 26, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 469,003 on the previous day's figures.
Of this number, 16,679,881 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 452,777 on the previous day, while 574,963 were a second dose, an increase of 16,226.
Scotland
The Scottish Government announced a further 18 deaths from the disease to take its total to 7,129.
Another 525 cases have been confirmed for a total of 201,512.
Just under 900 people were in hospitals in Scotland with Covid-19 on Friday. Of those, 74 were in intensive care.
A total of 1,570,153 people have received the first dose of a Covid vaccine and 72,178 have received their second dose.
Wales
Public Health Wales said its death toll has increased by 16 to 5,316.
It also confirmed an additional 198 cases to bring its total to 203,378.
One million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered across Wales while more than one in three of the country's adult population have received at least one dose, new figures show.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland's Department of Health reported two more deaths, bringing its toll to 2,052.
Another 184 individuals have tested positive for the virus.
A total of 112,357 people in the region has contracted the virus since the first case was reported last February.
On Saturday morning there were 307 Covid-positive patients in hospital, of whom 36 were in intensive care.
More than half a million people have received a Covid-19 vaccine, of which 505,188 were first doses and 31,898 were second doses.
