A further 367 people have died from coronavirus across the UK, more than double the increase two weeks ago.
This is 50% higher than the 241 fatalities recorded last Tuesday and over double the 143 on Tuesday, October 13.
Today's increase is the biggest jump in deaths since May 24, when 379 were announced.
The daily death updates cover fatalities recorded over the last 24 hours but this does not mean they lost their lives in the past day.
The increases tend to rise on Tuesdays as a result of a 'weekend lag' which means official figures take longer than the usual 24 hours to be processed.
Some 22,885 people have tested positive for the disease in the past 24 hours.
It comes after daily hospital deaths in the country hit their highest level in five months.
The number of weekly fatalities in England and Wales also reached a three-month high.
Deaths involving the disease rose for the sixth week in a row, new official figures released today show.
Overall, more than 61,000 deaths involving Covid-19 have now occurred in the UK, according to the new Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures.
Across the whole of the UK, 761 deaths where coronavirus was noted in the registration were recorded in the week ending October 16 alone.
That figure is 287 higher than the previous week - an uplift of just under 40%.
The number of people who have died in the UK's hospital with coronavirus has risen by 252 in the last 24 hours in the highest daily jump since May.
That includes 207 fatalities in England, along with seven new deaths in Wales, 25 in Scotland, and 13 in Northern Ireland.
A total 147 of the deaths are in the Midlands and the North of England, with 77 in the North West alone.
One person in England aged between 20-39 died with the virus, the latest official figures on Tuesday showed.
Today's hospital toll is up 90 on last week, as 162 died with Covid-19 on October 20.%
