The UK has announced 861 more deaths from the coronavirus today, taking the total number of victims to 13,729.
In another dark milestone Britain has now officially diagnosed more than 100,000 people with the virus – making it only the sixth country in the world to do so. But the rising number of cases remains stable, with just 4,618 positive tests in the past 24 hours resulting in a total case count of 103,093.
NHS England confirmed a further 740 people died in its hospitals between yesterday and March 9. The patients were aged between 28 and 103. 40 of them had no other known health conditions before they got COVID-19.
And Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland confirmed a combined 121 more deaths from the coronavirus today. Their individual announcements add up to 130 but are not all included in the UK total.
The figures come as NHS England data revealing the days on which people actually died suggests the deadliest day in Britain could have been a week ago, on April 8. Hospitals recorded 771 people dying on that day. Death totals announced each day, which have regularly been higher than that, do not actually represent the number of people dying the past 24 hours. Today, for example, just 151 out of the 861 total happened yesterday.
Today’s death toll is the highest in five days, since Saturday last week, but the rise was not unexpected.
England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said in yesterday’s Government briefing that he expected a spike today as reports filter through from the long bank holiday weekend. He said the country cannot be sure it’s past the peak of the outbreak but added: ‘We do all think this has flattened out’.
The Government is this afternoon expected to announce people must remain in lockdown for another three weeks, after reviewing the situation with its scientific advisers. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gazumped the announcement in her afternoon briefing and said the stay-at-home measures would continue.
And officials face more scathing criticism over the way they are handling the crisis in care homes around the country. Social care bosses wrote to the Department of Health at the weekend and said the organisation of mandatory personal protective equipment for their staff has been ‘shambolic’, a leaked letter showed.
In other UK coronavirus news:
- A report sent to ministers has suggested coffee shops, restaurants and estate agents should be among the first to reopen on Britain’s high streets, as they are the businesses most likely to boost the economy and pose the smallest risk of spreading the virus;
- There are claims the population could be ‘segmented’ to ease restrictions with young people allowed back to work and primary schools opened, while pensioners and the vulnerable are ordered to stay in isolation;
- One of the Government’s own key experts, Professor Neil Ferguson, has warned curbs cannot be eased until mass testing is in place and criticised the government’s slow action;
- The first newly-adapted ventilator design has been approved by regulators, with the government ordering 15,000 of the Penlon’s Prima ES202 model;
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock has rejected calls for ministers to take a pay cut in solidarity with hard-hit workers, after counterparts in New Zealand announced they would;
- Mr Hancock insisted the government could hit its 100,000 a day testing target by the end of the month, despite questions over why it is still not using the current capacity of 25,000.
Workers outside a mortuary at Lewisham Hospital in London wheel a trolley used for transporting dead bodies
London was the region that recorded the most fatalities today, with 153 more victims, followed by the North East & Yorkshire, which declared 150.
In the Midlands there were 127 more to add to the tally, while 106 were declared in the North West of England.
Hospitals in the East of England recorded 91, while 84 were announced in the South East and 29 in the South West.
An NHS trust in Birmingham has become the first to record 500 deaths from the coronavirus, today’s data reveals.
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust – which runs four hospitals in the city – confirmed 21 more fatalities in England’s official tally.
It means the hospital trust has now recorded 505 COVID-19 fatalities, a huge amount more than the next worst-hit NHS organisation.
A considerably lower 350 infected patients have died at the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, according to a count by health chiefs.
There are now at least 46 hospital trusts where more than 100 people have died, showing the effects of COVID-19 have spread far and wide.
Figures also show Birmingham is the hardest-hit area of the UK, with more confirmed cases of the life-threatening infection than anywhere else.
Data collated by the Department of Health shows the city – home to more than a million people – has recorded 1,931 cases.
Hampshire and Kent are the next worst-hit local authorities in England, with both having confirmed 1,802 cases each, as of yesterday.
More detailed statistics from NHS England show that the deadliest single day for actual deaths so far has been April 8.
Data shows 771 patients died in hospitals in England on the most lethal day, leading to speculation that that day could have been the peak of the outbreak. Death records are still filtering through from March, however, so this is likely to change.
The number plummeted by more than 100 to 653 on April 9 and then appeared to fall again to 606 the following day.
The data is valuable for understanding the crisis because it tracks when a COVID-19 deaths actually occurred, not when it was reported.
A lag in the way fatalities are recorded mean it can take days or even weeks for a death to be included in the overall tally, which stands at 12,868.
Tests and postmortems need to confirm the cause of death was coronavirus before the Government can officially announce it.
The data needs to be treated with caution because it is revised and changed every day and does not include deaths in care homes and the wider community.
But it adds weight to the theory the country is flattening the curve. World-leading researchers projected deaths would peak on April 13.
England’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty last night said he believed the worst of the crisis was behind us.