More than 80,000 people have now died of Covid-19 in the UK. 

The number of people who have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus has increased by 1,035 over 24 hours, with the total toll now standing at 80,868 according to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). 

It is the fourth consecutive day the Covid death toll has surpassed 1,000, with Friday being the deadliest day of the pandemic so far as 1,325 deaths were recorded.

These figures account for people who died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, as of Saturday morning. 

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 95,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

The government also said that, as of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 59,937 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.

It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 3,017,409.

The three million figure has been passed just three weeks after cases passed the two million mark on December 19.

The one million lab-confirmed case mark was previously reached on October 31, although mass testing did not start until last May, meaning many earlier cases will have been missed and the true number of total cases since the start of the outbreak will be higher.