UK coronavirus hospital deaths smash through 20,000 mark as 813 more die
25 April 2020, 15:27
More than 20,000 people in UK hospitals have now died after testing positive for coronavirus after a further 813 confirmed deaths on Saturday.
A further 4,913 people have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the nation's total number of infections to 148,377, the latest figures show.
It comes after 143,464 people were reported to have contracted the virus as of Friday.
The 813 new deaths represent a significant jump on the total tally of 19,506 reported yesterday and a large increase on the 684 reported yesterday.
It now brings the UK's coronavirus-related death toll in hospitals to 20,319, meaning it is the fifth country to surpass the grim milestone.
Not all of today's number occurred in the past 24 hours but were instead registered or recorded in that space of time. Some of the deaths go back as far as early March.
Last month, the Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance said keeping deaths below the 20,000 mark would be a "good outcome."
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As of 9am 25 April, 640,792 tests have concluded, with 28,760 tests on 24 April.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 25, 2020
517,836 people have been tested of which 148,377 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 24 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 20,319 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/5HLhOFWdlu
The number of people to have died in hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus is accurate as of 5pm 24 April.
Similarly, as of 9am 25 April, a total of 517,836 people have been tested of which 369,459 returned negative.
There were 23,115 tests carried out on Friday and the capacity for 28,760.
NHS England announced 711 new deaths, bringing England's total to 18,084. Of those, 105 occurred on 24 April, 236 occurred on 23 April, and 66 occurred on 22 April.
The figures also show 235 of those deaths took place between 1 April and 21 April, while the remaining 69 deaths happened in March. The reason for the lag is that some deaths and post-mortem examinations take time to be confirmed as involving Covid-19.
The data shows that 8 April remains the highest for hospital deaths occurring on a single day - 855.
Meanwhile, in Scotland there has been a further 47 deaths, taking the country's total to 1,231. And in Wales, another 23 have died, leaving the country's tally at 774.
