UK coronavirus fatalities at lowest level since March with 55 deaths as Scotland reports none for second day running

A further 55 people have died after contracting coronavirus - the lowest daily rise since before the Covid-19 lockdown was introduced on March 23.

The figures come as Scotland has reported no new coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours for the second day in a row, Nicola Sturgeon said.

The Department of Health (DoH) confirmed the total number of fatalities in hospitals, care homes and the wider community has risen to 40,597.

The rise is the lowest daily total of newly reported deaths since March 22, but there is often a lag in the reporting of deaths over a weekend.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said two consecutive days with no new deaths is 'very encouraging.' Credit: PA

The DoH also said that as of 9am on Monday there had been 5,731,576 tests overall, including 138,183 tests on Sunday, of which 1,205 were positive.

The department said a total of 287,399 people had tested positive.

The figure for the number of people tested has been "temporarily paused to ensure consistent reporting" across all methods of testing.

NHS England announced on Monday a further 59 people had died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number in England to 27,490.

The patients were aged between 34 and 100, with three aged between 54 and 68 known to have had underlying health conditions.

The deaths are higher than those released by the DoH due to different time frames for recording them.

No deaths were reported in London hospitals for the second day in a row but NHS England said a "small number" of people had died and these would be included in figures in the next few days.

Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, the First Minister said a total of 2,415 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, no change on the previous day’s figure.

The First Minister said 15,639 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 18 from 15,621 the day before.

Public Health Wales said a further three people have died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths in Wales to 1,401.

Another 42 people have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 14,438.

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