The UK's coronavirus hospital death toll has risen by 85 in the lowest Saturday figure in five months.
The figure includes in 71 in England, six in Wales, eight in Scotland, and no new deaths in Northern Ireland, and is the lowest total reported on a Saturday since October 5.
The full national tally of deaths across all settings including care homes and the wider community will be released by officials later today.
Britain hit a major vaccinations milestone today as Matt Hancock revealed half of all UK adults have now received a first dose.
The Health Secretary said the nation recorded the highest number of jabs given in a single day on Friday.
Official figures showed the hospital death toll today included people aged 40 to those over 80.
There have been a further 208 cases of coronavirus in Wales, 488 in Scotland, and 159 in Northern Ireland. England's figures will be released later this afternoon.
A total 101 people in the UK were reported to have lost their lives to Covid on Friday, and 4,802 new cases were recorded.
The total death toll stood at 126,026, and total first doses of the vaccine passed 26million.
The UK's bumper vaccine week will followed by a slump as shipment delays are set to affect supplies in coming weeks.
Under-50s have been warned of delays of up to a month as the UK awaits fresh stocks for its race to meet Boris Johnson's goal to give the jab to all adults by the end of July.
However drugmaker Moderna this week assured its vaccine supplies were on track to arrive on UK shores by April.
Mr Hancock described the UK's vaccine rollout as a "national success story" today as he announced the milestone today.
Officials are hoping the jab will pave the way for the UK to exit lockdown and resume freedoms from July.
Daily cases and death rates have been steadily trending down since January as the winter lockdown then the jab rollout took effect.
However Europe's third wave has prompted fresh alarm this week as countries including France impose fresh restrictions.
Officials are also monitoring the spread of the South African variant in Europe, following a study this week finding the AstraZeneca vaccine may not be able to fully protect against the strain.
