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The number of people who have died across England, Scotland and Wales after contracting coronavirus has risen by at least 133 in 24 hours.
The increase consists of 115 hospital patients in England, nine people in Scotland, one person in Northern Ireland and eight hospital patients and care home residents in Wales.
So far, no UK-wide figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have been released, so the total is taken from each nation’s individual reporting.
It brings the working total to 39,861.
But the government tally, when it is released later today, will be significantly higher as it includes deaths in care homes (missing from the individual figures in at least England) and the community (missing from at least England and Wales). Here’s a quick primer on what all the different numbers mean and how to understand them.
NHS England said patients were aged between 26 and 100 years old. Five of the 115 patients, aged between 53 and 97, had no known underlying health condition.
Meanwhile in Scotland the daily death toll dropped to single figures for the first weekday since just after lockdown began in March.
Nicola Sturgeon said: “I think that [a death toll in single figures] demonstrates the progress we’re making against this virus but also underlines why we all continue to need to comply with the public health guidance – so we continue to make this progress and don’t allow it to go into reverse.”
However, the first minister added nine deaths is still too many, with each one representing a person and a family left “shattered and grieving”.
She also sounded a note of caution, saying: “We cannot and should not read too much into any one day’s figures.”