The daily number of coronavirus hospital deaths in the UK has fallen again as 601 new fatalities were reported on Wednesday.
England recorded 445 new deaths, including a 14-year-old child with no known underlying health condition.
Scotland had 83 and Wales reported 73, taking Britain's overall total to 22,370. Northern Ireland will reveal its latest figures later.
The UK's true death toll is much higher than 22,370 when deaths outside of hospitals are included.
Later the Department of Health will for the first time announce an official count that includes fatalities that have occurred in care homes.
The Government has faced increasing criticism over the number of deaths in care and nursing homes and it is feared that the epidemic still hasn't reached its peak in those facilities.
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Single-day totals from hospitals have been trending downwards and health chiefs say the UK has reached the peak of its epidemic, but warn a second wave could happen if the lockdown is lifted too soon and Brits ignore social distancing rules.
The daily totals on the previous Wednesdays were 791 on April 22, 801 on April 15 and 936 on April 8.
The NHS reported 445 new Covid-19 deaths in England, taking the country's total to 19,740.
Of the 445 new deaths announced:
- 96 occurred on April 28
- 148 occurred on April 27
- 42 occurred on April 26
The figures also show 116 of the new deaths took place between April 1 and April 25 while the remaining 43 deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new death taking place on March 9.
NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago.
This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for post-mortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated.
The figures published by NHS England show April 8 continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day, with a current total of 859.
The 445 new deaths include a patient aged 14 with no known underlying health condition.
To date there have now been a total of 10 confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England of people aged 0-19 years old who tested positive for Covid-19.
Of the 19,740 confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to date, 10,297 (52%) have been people aged 80 and over while 7,703 (39%) were 60-79.
A further 1,585 (8%) have been aged 40-59, with 145 (1%) aged 20-39.
The 10 deaths aged 0-19 represents 0.05% of the overall total.
In Scotland, as of 9am on Wednesday 1,415 patients have died after testing positive for Covid-19, up by 83 from Tuesday, said First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
A total of 2,272 people have died with confirmed or suspected coronavirus, the National Records of Scotland announced earlier.
Of those, 39% took place in care homes, 52% in hospitals and 9% in homes or non-institutional settings.
The total differs from the lab-confirmed coronavirus deaths announced daily by the Scottish Government because they include suspected or probable cases of Covid-19.
Wales reported 73 new deaths, bringing its total to 886.
There was a sharp day-on-day increase because the daily total includes 31 previously unreported fatalities that were discovered during a review in the Hywel Dda health board area.
Public Health Wales said a further 117 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 9,629.
At Prime Minister's Questions, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, deputising for Boris Johnson, whose fiancée Carrie Symonds gave birth to a baby boy, admitted his "horror" as Labour worked out at least 27,241 people have now died with coronavirus - far higher than the Government's official toll.
Mr Raab said 108 NHS and social care workers are known to have died from coronavirus.
He told MPs: "The whole House will also want to join me in paying tribute to the 85 NHS workers and the 23 social care workers who have very sadly died from coronavirus.
"My very deepest sympathies are with their family and friends at what is an incredibly difficult time, and we'll continue to do whatever it takes to support them."
Mr Raab said the spread of Covid-19 in care homes is a "challenge that we must grip".
During PMQs Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer asked why deaths in care homes were still rising.
In response, Mr Raab said: "There's doubting and I will not shy away from saying in front of the right honourable gentleman (Sir Keir) that this is a challenge.
"But it is a challenge that we must grip and can grip to make sure we can get the numbers down in care homes as we have seen in hospitals and as we've seen in the country at large."
Sir Keir again called on the Government to publish its lockdown exit strategy.
Environment Secretary George Eustice has insisted care homes were not overlooked while the focus was on preventing the NHS from being overwhelmed.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme: "No, I don't accept it was overlooked, but obviously there was a real focus on our NHS because there were concerns that it might be overwhelmed and we wanted to make sure they had absolutely everything they needed.
"But in the case of care homes, we have always recognised that there was more vulnerability there."
Despite thousands of deaths in care homes, the Government has only just now made testing available to all residents and staff after expanding the regime following weeks of criticism.
Those with or without symptoms can request testing.
The UK's testing capacity has increased to 73,400 a day as Health Secretary Matt Hancock scrambles to deliver on his promise of carrying out 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.
Britain has reached the peak of its epidemic and daily hospital death totals are trending downwards, but it is feared that deaths in care and nursing homes will continue to rise.
Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group, said: "Sadly, as far as care and nursing homes are concerned I fear we are not yet at the peak in terms of deaths from Covid-19 and we are now the front line in the fight against the virus.
"Care providers and care workers are working flat-out and doing an amazing job, trying to keep our residents as safe as we can.
"The Government has promised to get testing to all care and nursing homes to help in the battle.
"It is a shame that we haven't had this so far and we are still waiting to see how this works in practice. But we are where we are and hopefully once proper testing is in place we will see an impact."
Robert Kilgour, who founded and runs Renaissance Care, which has 15 care homes in Scotland, said thousands more residents will die without urgent funding from the Scottish Government.
He said private care homes have been pushed into the "last chance saloon" by the pandemic, and residents and staff are "enduring an absolutely torrid time".
Home Secretary Priti Patel said there will be "new norms" when the UK comes out of lockdown and social distancing will be expected "in every single work area:.
She told the Commons Home Affairs Committee: "Even before people go back to work there is a job to do yet in terms of securing workplaces.
"The fact of the matter is we will not go back to how we were in early March."
In other developments, Tui has extended the suspension of its holidays up to and including June 11 from May 14.
Customers are seeking cash refunds, but the the UK's biggest tour operator warned that its call centres are "incredibly busy".
Heathrow chief executive John Holland-Kaye said travellers should be given health checks when they arrive at UK airports.
He said countries carrying out temperature checks on arriving travellers are "perceived as being safer" than the UK.
At least 1.3 million British nationals have returned from abroad since the start of the outbreak.
Of those, 200,000 returned from Spain and 50,000 from Australia in the past month along, said Foreign Office minister Nigel Adams.
Employers want the coronavirus furlough scheme to be extended to at least the end of September and made more flexible.
Furloughed staff should be allowed to work reduced hours, according to a survey of more than 1,000 employers found.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said about half of those questioned said they have furloughed staff and another 10 per cent plan to do so.
Unions intend to fight British Airways' plans to cut 12,000 jobs, saying the action is "entirely at odds" with measures taken by other European airlines that are struggling financially due to the crisis.
Great Western Railway has named a train after Captain Tom Moore after he raised almost £30 million for the NHS by walking laps around his garden before his 100th birthday on Thursday.
Other tributes are planned to honour the World War II veteran when the UK celebrates his milestone birthday.
