UK-wide coronavirus death toll increases by 786 to 6,159
Britain on Tuesday reported a record 786 new COVID-19 deaths in its daily update, following two days of falling figures. "As of 5pm on 6 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 6,159 have sadly died," the health ministry tweeted, up from 5,373 on Monday.
- World
- Reuters
- Published Date: 08:27 | 07 April 2020
- Modified Date: 08:27 | 07 April 2020
The United Kingdom coronavirus death toll rose by 786 to 6,159 people as of 1600 GMT on April 6, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
As of 0800 GMT on Tuesday, 213,181 people had been tested of which 55,242 were positive, up from 51,608 on Monday, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Earlier, data showed England's hospital death toll from the coronavirus has risen by 758 to 5,655, representing a re-acceleration in the count of fatalities.
Twenty-nine of the latest victims in England had no known underlying health condition and the ages of those who died ranged between 23 and 102.
Tuesday's English total represented a faster pace of increase than the 403 new deaths announced on Monday, which was down from Sunday's figure.
An official with the National Health Service said the jump from Monday probably reflected the slower confirmation of deaths caused by coronavirus over the weekend in English hospitals, a pattern seen in the previous week too.
The daily updates of the death toll in English hospitals include backdated changes for people who died in previous days but were not immediately registered as coronavirus victims.
Separate data from Britain's official statistics office published earlier on Tuesday showed the majority of coronavirus deaths in England in the week ending March 27 occurred in hospitals.
Only 38 of 539 coronavirus deaths recorded during that week occurred at home, in a care home, hospice or elsewhere, the data from the Office for National Statistics showed.