The coronavirus death toll in the UK has risen by nine, bringing the total number of fatalities linked to the disease to 46,210, according to the latest Government figures.
A further 938 people were confirmed to have the virus in the 24-hour period to 9am on Monday, the Department of Health said on Monday.
Separately figures from the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 56,400 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
It comes after UK hospitals reported a further five deaths from the virus on Monday.
All five deaths were recorded in England, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each reporting no new fatalities today.
The total number of Covid-19 hospital deaths now stands at 33,964.
But today’s hospital figure marks the lowest increase since Public Health England announced a rolling daily average of four deaths on March 12.
The low number is caveated with the reminder that totals tend to be lower on a Monday owing to a lag in reporting over the weekend.
Last Monday, 10 deaths were confirmed in hospitals, with six recorded on July 27.
The highest number of Monday deaths was during the peak of the crisis on April 13, when 697 were recorded in hospitals nationwide.
It comes amid fears of a second wave of the virus, with the Government's Scientific Advisory Group (Sage) warning that infection rates could be increasing.
The reproduction number, referred to as R, for the UK as a whole is between 0.8 to 0.9, according to the latest estimates, published on Friday.
However, a subgroup of Sage which provides the R rate figures said: “A growth rate between -1 and -4 per cent means the number of new infections is shrinking by between one and four per cent every day.
“However, we are starting to see early indications that these values may be increasing.
“This is not yet reflected in these estimates because the data used to calculate R and growth rate reflect the situation from a few weeks ago.”
Elsewhere, Dr David Nabarro, the World Health Organisation’s coronavirus envoy for Europe, stressed that the risk of a surge in infections in London was now “extremely serious”.
Speaking to the Standard, he appealed to millions of Londoners not to “bend the rules” on social distancing and good hygiene with another heatwave on the way.
He also emphasised that the “toughest time” to control the virus is when numbers are low because people often struggle to maintain discipline in combating it.