Further 209 patients die after testing positive for coronavirus bringing UK total to 1,228
A total of 1,228 patients have died after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Saturday, the Department of Health said, up from 1,019 the day before.
The Department of Health said 19,522 people had tested positive as of Saturday. One week ago, on March 22, the total stood at 5,683.
The 190 patients in England who died after testing positive for Covid-19 were aged between 39 and 105, and all but four – aged between 57 and 87 – had underlying health conditions, the NHS said.
The UK’s latest death toll includes six more fatalities in Northern Ireland, bringing its total to 21 deaths. Northern Ireland’s department for health, also announced that a further 86 patients have tested positive out of a total of 742.
There have been a further 10 deaths of people who had tested positive for coronavirus in Wales, taking the number of deaths in Wales to 48.
Public Health Wales said 148 new cases had tested positive for Covid-19 in Wales.
The total number of confirmed cases in the nation is now 1,241, though the true number is likely to be higher.
One more person has died after testing positive for coronavirus inScotland, taking the total there to 41, the Scottish Government has announced.
It took 16 days for the number of deaths in the UK to go from one to just over 200. It has taken a further eight days for the total to go from just over 200 to just over 1,200.
Meanwhile, the number of people in the UK who have been tested for coronavirus has now passed 125,000. The total as of 9am on March 29 was 127,737.
On average, around 7,000 new tests a day were carried out in the seven days to 9am March 29.
In the previous seven days the daily average was around 5,400.
Coronavirus: Everything you need to know:
Check the number of cases in your area with our interactive map
Listen and subscribe to our podcast
All the coronavirus information you need in one place - from health and work to what you can do to stop the spread of the virus
What you can and can't do during the lockdown: