As COVID-19’s second variant rages, 1,325 more people have died in the United Kingdom- the biggest figure reported on any day since the pandemic began.
It means there have been just short of 80,000 deaths by that measure within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test.
This is as UK recorded another 68,053 new COVID-19 cases.
It comes as a third COVID vaccine received emergency approval for use in the UK.
The government has pre-ordered 17 million doses of the jab, made by US firm Moderna.
It joins the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs in being approved, with close to 1.5 million people now vaccinated in the UK.
BBC NEWS reports that Friday’s daily figures showed 619,941 tests were conducted in the 24 hours to 09:00 GMT – also a new record.
