UK coronavirus death toll rises by 355, with over 23,000 new cases
6 November 2020, 16:20 | Updated: 6 November 2020, 17:50
The UK's coronavirus death toll has risen by 355, with 23,287 new positive cases.
This brings the UK total number of deaths to 48,475.
Separate figures published by the UK's statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 64,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.
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The Government said that, as of 9am on Friday, there had been a further 23,287 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK. It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,146,484.
The latest figures came as it was revealed the reproduction number, or R value, of coronavirus transmission across the UK remains unchanged from last week and is still above 1.
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Data released on Friday by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) shows the estimate for R for the whole of the UK is between 1.1 and 1.3.
R represents the average number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect.
When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially.
An R number between 1.1 and 1.3 means that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 11 and 13 other people.
It came as hundreds of people formed queues outside testing centres in Liverpool as the city’s new pilot scheme began.
Scores have been tested since centres opened at midday for a trial period lasting at least two weeks.
The city's mayor Joe Anderson said the pilot could save lives, stop hospitals being overwhelmed and “get the city out of tier three restrictions”.
Everyone living or working in Liverpool will be offered regular and repeat tests, whether or not they have symptoms.
