The reported number of deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test was slightly higher than the 1,248 recorded on Thursday.
In total, there have been 87,295 recorded deaths from COVID-19.
The 55,761 new cases of COVID-19 was significantly up from th 48,682 cases recorded the previous day.
This brings the total number of cases in the UK so far to 3,316,019.
But offering some hope, the Government data also revealed the number of people the number of people receiving a first vaccine does has increased to 3.2 million.
Separate figures from the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, along with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, revealed there have now been more than 100,000 deaths involving COVID-19 in the UK.
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