As it happened: UK tops 1,000 daily coronavirus cases for third time in a week - BBC News
There were 1,009 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK in the last 24 hours, according to official figures.
Public Health England said its approach was intended to ensure deaths were not underestimated early in the pandemic Image caption: Public Health England said its approach was intended to ensure deaths were not underestimated early in the pandemic

As we reported earlier, the UK coronavirus death toll has been reduced by more than 5,000.

This has happened because a review was ordered after it emerged England may have been including deaths which occurred months after a positive test for coronavirus, whereas the other UK nations had a 28-day cut-off.

By using the same methodology in all four nations, the overall death toll has now been reduced by 12% - from 46,706 to 41,239.

In the most recent week of data analysed, 18 to 24 July, deaths dropped by 75%, from 442 to 111.

Prof John Newton, director of health improvement at Public Health England, said the original method of counting was chosen "to avoid underestimating deaths caused by the virus in the early stages of the pandemic".

"Our analysis of the long-term impact of the infection now allows us to move to new methods, which will give us crucial information about both recent trends and overall mortality burden due to Covid-19," he said.

The Department for Health and Social Care said the UK's chief medical officers had recommended the "single consistent" measure across all four nations.

It said that the review, carried out by Public Health England, had considered epidemiological data on how likely it was that Covid-19 had contributed to someone's death at different points of time after a positive test.