Coronavirus: UK death toll passes 15,000 with 888 dead in 24 hours
18 April 2020, 14:10
The UK’s coronavirus death toll has passed 15,000, with 888 people dying in hospital in the last 24 hours.
The latest figures from the Department of Health and Social Care revealed 15,464 people have now passed away from Covid-19.
Almost 500,000 people have been tested, with 114,217 confirmed cases.
21,389 of those were tested on April 17, with the government aiming for 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.
NHS England announced 784 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 13,918.
As of 9am 18 April, 460,437 tests have concluded, with 21,389 tests on 17 April.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) April 18, 2020
357,023 people have been tested of which 114,217 tested positive.
As of 5pm on 17 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 15,464 have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/yZmas1wSvS
April 8 had the highest number of hospital deaths in England on a single day - 799.
Of the 784 new deaths announced on Saturday:
- 150 occurred on April 17.
- 320 occurred on April 16.
- 101 occurred on April 15.
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The figures also show 187 of the deaths took place between April 1 and April 14, and the remaining 26 deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new death taking place on March 14.
The number of people in the UK tested for coronavirus since the outbreak began was 357,023 as of 9am.
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April 18, is the equivalent of around 536 people in every 100,000 - or 0.5 per cent of the population.
On average just under 12,500 new people were tested daily in the seven days up to April 18.
In the previous seven days, up to April 11, the daily average was just over 12,300.
In Scotland, 893 people who tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland have died, a rise of 56 on Friday's figure, according to the Scottish Government.
Across the country, 38,233 people have now been tested for Covid-19, with 7,820 testing positive.
As of Friday night, 1,793 patients were in hospital with either confirmed or suspected coronavirus, a decrease of six.
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Of those, 182 were being treated in intensive care units, down seven from the previous night.
Public Health Wales said there had been 28 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed fatalities in Wales to 534.
The new deaths, by health board area, are: five in Aneurin Bevan, one in Cardiff and Vale, 19 in Cwm Taf Morgannwg and two in Swansea Bay, with one elsewhere in Wales.
There have been a total of 6,936 confirmed cases in Wales, a rise of 292, while 24,114 tests have been carried out on 20,766 individuals.
17 more people died in hospitals across Northern Ireland, bringing their total number of deaths to 193.
