UK coronavirus death toll rises by 363 to 35,704 with no new cases in London

20 May 2020, 17:30

The latest coronavirus death toll has been announced. Picture: Getty

By Maddie Goodfellow

The UK Government's coronavirus deaths figure has increased by 363 to 35,704.

These figures only count the deaths of people who tested positive for the virus. They include people who have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for the virus.

It comes as no new coronavirus cases were recorded in London or the East of England on Monday; with England as a whole seeing 79 new cases.

At yesterday's daily coronavirus update the government's official death toll for the UK stood at 35,341 with a daily increase 545.

9,950 people are in hospital with coronavirus.

NHS England's Professor Stephen Powis announced that this is the first time since March the number of people in hospital is below 10,000.

In the 24-hour period up to 9am on Wednesday, 177,216 tests were carried out or dispatched, with 2,472 positive results.

Overall a total of 2,962,227 tests have been carried out, and 248,293 cases have been confirmed positive.

The actual death toll is thought to be higher. Picture: Getty

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However, the latest available data suggests the number of deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK has passed 44,500.

Wednesday's figures from the National Records of Scotland, showing that 3,546 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to May 17, follow figures on Tuesday from the Office for National Statistics that showed 39,071 deaths involving Covid-19 occurred in England and Wales up to May 8 (and had been registered up to May 16).

The latest figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, published last week, showed 599 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Northern Ireland up to May 13.

Together, these figures mean that so far 43,216 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.

A further 1,532 hospital patients in England who had tested positive for Covid-19 died between May 9 and May 19, according to figures published on Wednesday by NHS England - which, together with the total figure of 43,216 registered deaths, indicates the overall death toll for the UK is now over 44,500.