Another 854 people have died after contracting coronavirus, taking the UK death toll to 6,227.
Today’s jump in deaths is the biggest daily increase since the outbreak began, following a rise of 439 deaths yesterday and 621 on Sunday.
The toll was updated after England recorded another 758 deaths, and 74 people were confirmed dead in Scotland. Wales recorded 19 more deaths today, while three more people died in Northern Ireland.
The combined figure from the four nations comes to 854, which is higher than the number – 786 – later released by the Department of Health (DoH).
This is because each devolved authority often makes amendments to their data after reporting deaths each day to DoH.
It took 17 days for the death count in the UK to pass 200, but it has taken a further 17 days for the number to pass 6,000.
A total of 55,242 people have now tested positive for coronavirus.
A week ago, on March 31, the total was 25,150. The latest figures emerged as Boris Johnson’s spokesman confirmed the Prime Minister has not been diagnosed with pneumonia and has not needed a ventilator, despite being taken into intensive care for persistent coronavirus symptoms.
Downing Street said the PM is ‘stable’ and in ‘good spirits’ after a night in the critical unit at St Thomas’ hospital in central London where he is now receiving ‘standard oxygen therapy’.
He was taken in for tests as a precautionary measure on Sunday after developing a cough and a fever, but his condition worsened yesterday afternoon.
A Number 10 spokesman said the PM had received ‘non-invasive’ oxygen treatment and did not require mechanical ventilation to keep his lungs working.
Senior minister Michael Gove confirmed Dominic Raab is now running the country while the PM fights coronavirus in hospital.
Mr Raab’s first job as stand-in PM on Tuesday will be to lead the Government’s emergency daily coronavirus ‘war Cabinet’ meeting with senior colleagues and the UK’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, and chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
The Foreign Secretary has vowed to follow the PM’s ‘direction’ for tackling the deadly virus, although he admitted at the Number 10 press briefing that the pair last spoke on Saturday.
Meanwhile, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the true coronavirus death toll could be 8% higher.
The ONS confirmed 38 people with coronavirus died outside hospitals in England and Wales in the week up to March 27.
Fifteen Britons died in their own homes, and 23 others died in hospices, care homes and other locations. There were 501 coronavirus deaths in hospitals in the same time period.
This data suggests that around one in 14 coronavirus deaths could be taking place outside hospitals. As the DoH only records deaths in hospitals, the ONS figures also suggest the true death count is 8% higher.
The number of deaths might seem low when compared with the current UK death toll of 5,373, but it’s because most of the deaths from coronavirus occurred over the last 10 days as the virus spread across country.
The ONS has stressed this is only preliminary analysis, and the figures are just for England and Wales covering one week of data.
(METRO.CO.UK)
