The UK has announced another 55 deaths from Covid-19 today in its early count.
Another 44 people were confirmed to have died in NHS England hospitals, along with six in Wales, three in Scotland and two in Northern Ireland.
A full update will be published by the Department of Health later today.
The early count comes as the average number of daily deaths is rising in the UK after swooping to a low of just seven per day a month ago, with there now a daily average of 40.
But in a shred of hopeful news, data now suggests that the surging numbers of cases which have rattled the nation in recent weeks appear to be slowing down.
Estimates from King's College London's Covid Symptom Study suggest that the rise in daily new cases is only 23 per cent higher than last week after it more than doubled in the week before.
And the Government-funded REACT-1 study, carried out by Imperial College London, said there were signs that the R rate has fallen to around 1.1 now, from 1.7 in September, and that cases are now rising less steeply than they were a few weeks ago.
NHS England said the patients who had died in its hospitals were aged between 60 and 99 and succumbed to the virus between September 18 and September 30.
Hospitals in the North West accounted for the single largest number – 15 – along with eight in the North East, six apiece in London and the Midlands, five in the South East, four in the East and none in the South West.
