LAST UPDATE | 8 Apr 2020
A FURTHER 938 deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded in the UK, but not all of these people have died since yesterday’s update.
The figures announced today by the Department of Health in the UK includes deaths that occurred in the past few days and weeks, but have only now been reported by hospitals.
For example, among the deaths announced today by NHS England are 358 that occurred between April 1 and April 5, and a further 29 that occurred on various dates during March, including two on March 5 and one on March 4.
This is why the Department of Health figure is not a real-time snapshot of how many people are dying in the UK, and why the number is not directly comparable with the daily totals being reported elsewhere.
New figures published by NHS England this afternoon shows a further 828 people died in English hospitals from the disease, bringing the total number in England to 6,483.
The patients who sadly passed away there were aged between 22 and 103 years old. Of the 828 people who died, 46 of them had no underlying health conditions.
Alongside that, a further five people are confirmed to have died in Northern Ireland bringing the death toll there to 78. In Wales, 33 more people have died bringing the total number there to 245.
The latest figures around the UK come as the government is set to expand lockdown measures next week amid warnings it would be too early to ease restrictions.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who remains in a stable condition in intensive care, had committed to review if the measures could be eased this Monday, three weeks after he imposed the conditions.
The number of people in the UK tested for coronavirus since the outbreak began – 232,708, as of 9am on April 8 – is the equivalent of around 349 people in every 100,000, or 0.3% of the population.
On average just under 11,400 new people were tested a day in the seven days up to April 8.
In the previous seven days the daily average was just under 8,000.
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson is said to be improving and “sitting up”, according to Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock.
There had been confusion after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is deputising for Johnson, refused to directly answer questions on when the review of restrictions would take place.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman clarified today that the review would take place “on or around” the three-week mark as he urged the public to “stick with it” at the “critical time”.
He highlighted the Government’s key advisers having made clear it was too early to say when the coronavirus pandemic would reach its peak and it would be safe to ease the restrictions imposed on March 23.
The emergency legislation laid before Parliament three days after the PM’s announcement states that a review must take place every 21 days, with the first deadline being 16 April.
Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan warned that London is “nowhere near lifting the lockdown”.
“We think the peak, which is the worst part of the virus, is still probably a week and a half away,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
With reporting from PA
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