UK records 175 coronavirus deaths and 6,609 cases with fatalities down by 35% in a week

THE UK has today recorded 175 coronavirus deaths - down 35% in a week.

The number of fatalities now means that the UK death toll sits at 125,343.

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Meanwhile another 6,609 cases were recorded, bringing the total number of infections to 4,248,286.

It comes as the UK continues to look forward to getting out of lockdown after months of restrictions.

The rules began to be relaxed this week, with kids heading back to school on Monday and Brits allowed to have a coffee on a park bench with one other person.

It's thanks to the success of the vaccination programme, with a total of 20,807,385 Covid-19 jabs taking place in England between December 8 and March 11, according to provisional NHS England data.

It comes as...

• New Covid clusters have erupted in the South
• The official R Rate has fallen to its lowest level yet
• Boris Johnson is under pressure to lift lockdown sooner as Wales has joined Scotland in speeding up its path to freedom
• The AstraZeneca Covid vaccine has been suspended over blood clot fears
• Scientists have found a new bat virus that is almost identical to Covid

Of this number, 19,798,473 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 211,393 on the previous day, while 1,008,912 were a second dose, an increase of 69,680.

And it was today confirmed that the coronavirus reproduction number, or R value, across the UK is between 0.6 and 0.8, according to the latest Government figures.

R represents the average number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect.

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When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially, but when it is below 1, it means the epidemic is shrinking.

An R number between 0.6 and 0.8 means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between six and eight other people.

The latest growth rate is between minus 7% and minus 4%, which means the number of new infections is shrinking by between 4% and 7% every day.