Five-year-old child dies in England from coronavirus
4 April 2020, 15:02
A five-year-old child is among the 708 new coronavirus deaths in the UK, NHS England has confirmed.
It brings the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals in England to 3,939, NHS England said.
The oldest patient was 104, and 40 had no known underlying conditions, aged between 48 and 93. Their families have been informed.
The child has become the youngest victim of the disease in the UK. Michael Gove said the child had "underlying health conditions" in the government's daily press conference today.
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Prior to today, 13-year-old Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab from Brixton was the UK's youngest coronavirus death.
Ismail died in King's College Hospital on Monday.
He was buried on Friday but his mother and six siblings could not attend as they are being forced to self-isolate.
A friend of the family said they were "devastated" not to attend but a live stream was being arranged for them.
It is understood he tested positive for Covid-19 one day after being admitted to hospital and died after suffering a cardiac arrest.
NHS England said 212 of the deaths of patients with Covid-19 were in the Midlands, with 127 in London, 97 in the North West, 73 in the North East and Yorkshire, 70 in the East of England, 41 in the South East and 17 in the South West.
The NHS also said 4,313 people had died as of 5pm yesterday. The latest rise in deaths is the biggest daily rise so far as the UK battles the coronavirus crisis.
The Department of Health and Social Care said a total of 183,190 people have been tested of which 41,903 tested positive.
The number of new coronavirus infections rose by 3,735 - the smallest increase in four days.
Further figures released today show that the death rate of those admitted to intensive care with Covid-19 has topped 50% in the UK.
