UK coronavirus deaths rise by 468 as toll tops 34,000

The number of people who have died with coronavirus in the UK has risen by 468, taking the total number of coronavirus-linked fatalities to 34,466.

The Department of Health said its figures showed 34,466 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Friday, u

This is up by 468 from 33,998 the day before.

In the 24-hour period up to 9am on Saturday, 136,486 tests were carried out or dispatched for 78,537 people, with 3,451 testing positive.

Overall, a total of 1,742,028 people have been tested, of whom 240,161 tested positive.

NHS England announced 181 more deaths linked to coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total number of hospital patients to have died in England to 24,527.

The figures show that 39 of the new deaths reported took place on Friday, 89 were on Thursday and 22 were on Wednesday. Others were earlier in May and in April.

A further 41 people have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, Scottish Government statistics show, bringing the total number of fatalities up to 2,094.

In total, 14,447 have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 187 from the day before.

Northern Ireland confirmed a further four deaths related to coronavirus, taking the total there to 473.

With 40 more cases of Covid-19 confirmed, the total number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Northern Ireland rose to 4,357.

Public Health Wales said that 18 more people had died after contracting Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,191.

A further 183 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 12,142.

Spokesman Dr Chris Williams said: “Public Health Wales welcomes the announcement yesterday by the First Minister of the traffic light road map which sets out how Wales could exit the coronavirus lockdown.

“In conjunction with the Welsh Government’s ‘Test, Trace, Protect’ strategy published earlier in the week, Public Health Wales will continue to work in partnership with our communities, the Welsh Government, the wider NHS and local government in Wales to focus on protecting the health of the people of Wales as we support the implementation of the strategy.”

The figures announced by individual countries differ from the numbers announced later each day by the Department of Health and Social Care, because they are counted differently.

The numbers include deaths that were previously uncounted and took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because it can take time for people who have died to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for post-mortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated.