UK Covid-19 deaths increase by 424 and further 21,672 people test positive for coronavirus

  • Report by ITV News Health Editor Emily Morgan

A further 424 people have died within 28 days of developing Covid-19, while an additional 21,672 people tested positive for the virus as of 9am on Friday.

The latest data from the Department of Health confirmed the UK coronavirus death toll has risen to 63,506.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show that more than 78,000 deaths involving coronavirus have now occurred in the UK.

A further 21,672 people have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases to 1,809,455.

The latest figures come as the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said the reproduction number, or R value, of coronavirus transmission across the UK is now between 0.9 and 1.

The R represents the average number of people each Covid-19 positive person goes on to infect.

When the figure is above 1, an outbreak can grow exponentially.

Mobile testing centres set up in parts of London to test secondary school pupils for Covid. Credit: PA

There have been worries in recent days that the pandemic is growing in the south and east of England as well as in Wales.

It comes as Matt Hancock announced on Thursday that all secondary school pupils in the worst hit areas of Kent, London and Essex would be tested for coronavirus.

The Welsh government announced yesterday they would be sending pupils home before the start of the Christmas break and moving teaching online in order to get control of the pandemic.

England

A further 275 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 43,812, NHS England said on Friday.

Patients were aged between 34 and 99. All except eight, aged between 60 and 95, had known underlying health conditions.

The deaths were between November 1 and December 10.

Fifteen other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Coronavirus cases are on the rise across Wales

Wales

There have been a further 2,234 cases of coronavirus in Wales, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 98,232.

Public Health Wales reported another 29 deaths, taking the total in Wales since the start of the pandemic to 2,818.

Scotland

A further 31 people have died after contracting coronavirus in Scotland as the country reports 1,001 new coronavirus cases on Friday.

The number of people hospitalised with the virus rose to 999, with 53 of those being treated in intensive care.

Northern Ireland

A further 12 people who tested positive for coronavirus in Northern Ireland have died, according to the Department of Health.

It brings the official death toll as recorded by the department to 1,111.

The latest figures also show there have been 538 new positive cases, out of 3,407 individuals tested.

In the last seven days, there have been 3,091 positive cases.

There are currently 423 people with Covid-19 being treated in hospitals across Northern Ireland – 28 of them in intensive care and 23 on ventilators.