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The number of people who have died across England, Scotland and Wales after contracting coronavirus has risen by 77 in 24 hours.
The increase consists of 59 hospital patients in England, three people in Scotland, eight people in Northern Ireland and seven 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 36,870.
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.
The patients who died in England were aged between 44 and 98 years old, NHS England said. Four of the 59 patients – aged between 56 and 91 – had no known underlying health condition.
The number of deaths reported by NHS England is significantly lower than it has been previously.
It is likely that this can be attributed to a reporting delay over the bank holiday, but a spokesperson for NHS England also explained that the Covid Patient Notification System did not operate between 5am and 3pm on Sunday, May 24 due to “connectivity issues experienced by an external supplier.”
This may therefore have an impact on the number of deaths reported by NHS England.
