The UK's coronavirus death toll has fallen by more than 5,000.

The revised figure comes after health chiefs agreed to only include people who died within 28 days of a positive test.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) reduced the number following an urgent review into how Public Health England calculates the daily Covid-19 death figures.

Officials said the number of Brits who died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus was 41,329 - down from the 46,706 deaths reported by the Government on Tuesday.

Separate figures published by the UK's statistics agencies show there have been 56,800 deaths registered in Britain where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

News Shopper: The official coronavirus death toll has been revisedThe official coronavirus death toll has been revised

The updated figure came as more than 1,000 Brits tested positive for coronavirus for the third time in four days.

Until now, the Department of Health had counted anyone who died at any time - of any cause - after testing positive in its daily statistics.

But after backlash against Public Health England's counting method, which experts said had "exaggerated" the deaths by thousands, officials have backed down and said they will post one-month deaths every day, with a separate weekly count of people who have died within 60 days of their test.

Deaths which occur after 60 days will be added to these figure if Covid-19 appears on the death certificate, the DHSC added.

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Officials said 88 per cent of people who have died of Covid-19 so far have done so within 28 days - a total of 41,329.

Around 96 per cent of deaths occur within 60 days, they said.

The Department of Health yesterday confirmed another 1,009 people were diagnosed with Covid-19, meaning the total number of infections stands at nearly 345,000.

On Tuesday, the country recorded its highest number of new cases in seven weeks, with 1,148 infections in a single 24-hour period.

Daily cases were slightly lower on Monday (816), but on Sunday they were four digits (1,062) for the first time since late June, before lockdown was eased.

Yesterday's new infections take the seven-day average to 1,072, the highest level since the week ending June 24, when there were roughly 1,081 infections a day.

News Shopper: Health Secretary Matt HancockHealth Secretary Matt Hancock

At that point, the country was still in strict lockdown, people were advised to stay at home as much as possible and pubs, restaurants and cinemas remained shut.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock last month ordered an urgent review into how Public Health England (PHE) calculates daily Covid-19 death figures.

Researchers had criticised "statistical flaws" in the way the deaths are reported across England.

Professor John Newton, director of health improvement at PHE, said: "The way we count deaths in people with Covid-19 in England was originally 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."