2,225 deaths involving Covid-19 were registered in the week of 6 November, up by 628 in a week.

Deaths registered for any reason were 15% above the level expected at this time of year.

The total number of "excess" deaths, those above expected levels, since the start of the pandemic is now 70,839

Most of these deaths occurred in the first wave: the weeks since the start of October account for just over 5,500 of that total.

Cases were assigned to the address in a patient's NHS records, but this did not account for those who have recently moved, such as students.

Newcastle saw cases rise by more than a quarter, followed by York and Lincoln.

Officials say the change had not affected decisions about local or national lockdown restrictions.

Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public Health England (PHE), said the change better reflected where positive cases were happening in recent weeks.

She added it particularly impacted cases among university students "who may not have yet registered with a GP at their term-time address".

The head of NHS Test and Trace is self-isolating after receiving a notification from the NHS mobile app.

It comes a week after her husband, Conservative MP John Penrose, was told to isolate by the app, and days after Boris Johnson, her boss, began self-isolating.

The government's medical adviser on Covid, Susan Hopkins, said they were working on a plan and wanted Christmas to be "as close to normal as possible".

BBC health correspondent Nick Triggle said any rule change would be for a limited time, maybe just a few days.

Cabinet minister Alok Sharma said it was too early for "conclusions" but he wanted to see his family for Christmas.

It comes after the Sun reported that families may be able to mix indoors for five days from Christmas Eve.

All four UK nations - England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - are trying to work out a common approach to Christmas so families spread across the UK can still meet up.

Our correspondent said any final decisions would not be made for a few weeks while health chiefs wait to see whether cases have started to come down during the lockdown in England.

But, he said, the advice was likely to urge families not to hold big gatherings and to travel by car, rather than public transport.

Scientific advice indicates that for every day that measures are relaxed, five days of tighter restrictions would be needed.