UK coronavirus death toll increases by 176 to 39,904

A further 176 people with Covid-19 have died in the UK, taking the coronavirus death toll across the four nations to 39,904.

Announcing the figures at the government's daily coronavirus briefing, transport secretary Grant Shapps said 220,057 tests were carried out or dispatched in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Thursday, with 1,805 positive results.

Overall, a total of 5,005,565 tests have been carried out and 281,661 cases have been confirmed positive.

NHS England announced 115 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 27,159.

Of the new deaths announced on Thursday, 24 had occurred on June 3, 49 on June 2 while nine patients who had test positive for Covid-19 on June 1.

The figures also show 25 of the new deaths took place in May, seven occurred in April, and the remaining one death took place on March 20.

Scotland's First Minister announced a further nine people with Covid-19 had died, the first weekday since March 27 where the number of deaths was in single figures.

Nicola Sturgeon added that nine deaths were still too many, with each one representing a person and a family left “shattered and grieving”.

The First Minister also said the reproduction rate of the virus in Scotland, known as the R number, has dropped to between 0.7 and 0.9.

In recent weeks, Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly said the R number was between 0.7 and one.

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In Wales, a further eight people have died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths in Wales to 1,379, Public Health Wales said.

Another 35 people have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 14,238.

One more person with coronavirus has died in Northern Ireland, taking the total recorded by the Department of Health – a toll primarily accounting for hospital deaths – to 535.

There have been another 33 confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the total since the outbreak began to 4,773.

Earlier, interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith paid tribute to the work of staff in intensive care units across the country during the pandemic.

The number of patients in intensive care exceeded the usual capacity in the units between March 31 and April 21 – peaking at 36% higher than could be usually coped with – but at no point exceeded the extra capacity built in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.