UK records lowest number of Covid deaths in a day since September
The UK government recorded 17 new Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours - the lowest rise in the death toll in more than five months.
The last time the number of daily reported coronavirus deaths was below 20 was on Monday, September 28 - when 13 new deaths were recorded.
The Covid-19 death toll, as of 9am on Monday, March 22, is 126,172.
Meanwhile, the number of new coronavirus cases reported in the last 24 hours increased slightly.
There were 5,342 more cases reported in the UK on Monday, bringing the total to 4,301,925 since the outbreak began.
This is a slight increase from 5,312 reported cases on Sunday.
Some 53.2% of UK adults - a total of 27,997,976 people - have received their first Covid vaccine dose. The figures are true as of the end of Sunday, March 21. And 4.3% of adults - 2,281,384 people - have received their second dose.
England
16 of the new Covid-related deaths reported in the UK were in England, bringing the nation's death toll to 111,027.
Meanwhile, 4,746 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 3,764,026.
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, one death was reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 2,105.
Cases in the nation increased by 87 and the total number of positive tests since the start of the pandemic is now 116,019.
Wales
There were no further deaths reported by Public Health Wales. The nation has a Covid death toll of 5,488.
But there were a further 150 confirmed cases, taking the total number of cases to 207,992.
Scotland
There were also no new Covid deaths reported in Scotland, which has a death toll of 7,552. It is the second day in a row the nation has not reported a new death related to the virus.
But hundreds of new confirmed cases were still reported in a day. The total number of cases in the nation rose by 359 on Monday to 213,888.