Fifty-six more people in the UK have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, officials have revealed.
The latest daily fatalities figure brings the country’s death toll to 126,670.
While experts caution against reading too much into single-day data, it appears to suggest the recent steady decline in deaths from the disease is continuing.
The same day last week, 112 deaths were announced while the figure for the previous Tuesday was 110.
Meanwhile, 4,040 more coronavirus cases have been recorded.
Across the country on Monday and Tuesday, people made the most of sunny conditions and the easing of rules which means groups of up to six, or two households, are now able to socialise in parks and gardens while outdoor sports facilities can reopen.
Indeed, an Ipsos Mori poll suggested Britons are much less concerned about Covid-19 than they were a month ago.
The survey of 1,009 adults in early March found 49 per cent of people felt the pandemic was a big issue for the UK, down from 72 per cent in February.
Mike Clemence, associate research director at the polling firm, said: “Concern is notably lower among older age groups, which may suggest the vaccination campaign is having an impact on public perceptions – although worries are also lower among the youngest Britons who will not yet have been vaccinated.”
Meanwhile, research by the Standard has shown that Covid-19 cases fell in more than half of London boroughs, according to the latest figures, despite the return of schools and an increase in mass testing.
In further promising news, a leading expert said Britain could get a fourth Covid-19 vaccine within as little as four weeks.
Professor Paul Heath, chief investigator for the Novavax jab trial in the UK, said that if approved by regulators it would help keep up the “momentum” in the nation’s world-leading vaccine roll-out.
