UK Covid-19 deaths pass 50,000

11 November 2020, 16:29 | Updated: 11 November 2020, 17:18

By Ewan Quayle

@EQjourno

The number of people in the UK who have died with coronavirus has passed 50,000, new data shows.

A further 595 deaths were recorded on Wednesday, taking the total in the UK to 50,365 and past a grim milestone for the country.

The majority of deaths were in England, with 478 reported in the last 24 hours - the highest daily number since early May.

There were a further 64 deaths reported in Scotland, 45 in Wales and 8 in Northern Ireland.

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Separate figures published by the UK's statistics agencies for deaths when Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with deaths reported in recent days, show there have now been 65,000 deaths involving coronavirus in the UK.

The Government said that, as of 9am on Wednesday, there had been a further 22,950 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.

It brings the total number of cases in the UK to 1,256,725.

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It comes as the UK heads into winter tackling a second wave of the virus.

Countries across Europe have locked down once again as they attempt to stop hospitals becoming overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.

Meanwhile, the Government said it hopes the four-week lockdown in England will allow an "as normal as possible" Christmas for families.

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In a visit to a Tesco distribution centre in London on Wednesday, the Prime Minister told reporters: "Times are difficult but what we have got to do is get through this current period of tough autumn measures through to 2 December then hopefully - hopefully - I think we'll have done the job of getting the R down and people can have a Christmas that's as normal as possible for as many people as possible, and get the shops open as well."

Mass testing pilots are to rolled out across hundreds of the worst-affected areas in England using rapid turnaround swabs to give people quicker results.

Earlier this month, a mass testing pilot was set up in Liverpool with the aim testing the whole population - with or without symptoms - for the virus.