More than a dozen of the latest coronavirus victims had no pre-existing health conditions, NHS says

  • Video report by ITV News Political Correspondent Paul Brand

A further 260 people have died from coronavirus in the UK, all between the ages of 33 and 100 years old, NHS England has said.

All the patients, bar 13, had underlying health conditions.

Those who passed away that did not have pre-existing conditions were between the ages of 63 and 99 years of age, the organisation said in a statement on Saturday.

The figures released show more than 1,000 people have died from the virus since it started spreading in the United Kingdom.

The announcement comes as an NHS boss said keeping UK coronavirus deaths below 20,000 would be "a good result".

The announcement comes as an NHS boss said keeping UK coronavirus deaths below 20,000 would be Credit: PA

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Professor Stephen Powis, National Medical Director of NHS England, said the NHS is working "incredibly hard" to limit the spread of the virus, but conceded: "The number of deaths that arise out of this epidemic in the UK, if it’s less than 20,000 as Sir Patrick Vallance said, that would be a good result, although every death… is absolutely a tragedy.

“But we shouldn’t be complacent about that, although that would be a good result, it will only happen if we stop the transmission of the virus.”

He added: "It is early at the moment and the scientists who are working with the government to model what we can expect are of course adjusting their predictions now as we start to see the actuality of the epidemic in the UK, rather than what we believed might have happened a few weeks ago."

The statement came as the number of people who have died after contracting coronavirus has passed 1,000.

As of 5pm on Friday, 1,019 people had died after being diagnosed with Covid-19, up from 759 the day before, the Department of Health and Social Care said on Saturday.

A total of 120,776 coronavirus tests have taken place, with 17,089 positive results and 103,687 people testing negative.

In England, a further 246 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths there to 935, NHS England said.

There were 49 new positive cases of coronavirus confirmed on Saturday in Northern Ireland, bringing the total number of known cases there to 324.

A further four people with coronavirus have died in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths there to 38, while seven people more have died in Scotland.

In the Republic of Ireland, a further 14 patients with Covid-19 have died, taking the death toll in the country to 36.

A Welsh street on lockdown. Credit: PA

Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the Covid-19 outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: “172 new cases have tested positive for coronavirus in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,093, although the true number of cases is likely to be higher.

“Four further deaths have been reported to us of people who had tested positive for Covid-19, taking the number of deaths in Wales to 38.

“We offer our condolences to families and friends affected, and we ask those reporting on the situation to respect patient confidentiality.

“Coronavirus is now circulating in every part of Wales. The single most important action we can all take in fighting coronavirus is to stay at home in order to protect the NHS, and save lives.“We know that staying at home can be hard, and we want to thank each and every person across Wales for doing their bit to help slow the spread of the virus.”

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