Covid: Government calculates death toll of 126,670 but other figures show UK has passed grim milestone of 150,000 deaths

A further 56 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test, according to government figures.

It brings the total number since the beginning of the pandemic to 126,670.

Separate figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), using data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show that there have been more than 150,000 deaths involving Covid in the UK.

This figure is higher than that released by the Department of Health which includes fatalities who tested positive for Covid in the 28 days prior to their death.

It comes as the weekly number of Covid-19 deaths in England and Wales fell below 1,000 for the first time in five months.

There have been a further 4,040 new reported cases of coronavirus in the UK as of Tuesday, bringing the total number since the beginning of the pandemic to more than 4.3 million.


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England

A further 40 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 86,234, NHS England said on Tuesday.

Patients were aged between 31 and 97 and all except one, aged 59, had known underlying health conditions.

The deaths were between December 19 and March 29 this year, with the majority being on or after March 25.

There were 10 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

Total deaths in England since the beginning of the pandemic has now reached 111,453.

Meanwhile, 3,384 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing the total since the beginning of the pandemic to nearly 3.9 million.

Northern Ireland

Five further deaths of people who previously tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland have been reported by the Department of Health.

Another 151 confirmed cases of the virus were recorded in the last 24-hour reporting period.

On Tuesday morning, there were 131 Covid-positive confirmed inpatients in hospital, of whom 18 were in ICUs.

Wales

There were no further deaths reported by Public Health Wales. The nation has a Covid death toll of 5,506.

There were a further 94 confirmed cases, taking the total number of cases to 209,285.

Scotland

There were also 12 further Covid deaths reported in Scotland, which has a death toll that now stands at 7,596.

But hundreds of new confirmed cases were still reported in a day. The total number of cases in the nation rose by 411 bringing the total number to 217,890.