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The number of people who have died in UK hospitals after contracting coronavirus has risen to 14,576 – an increase of 847 over 24 hours.
The figures cover the period up to 5pm on on Thursday, but the true number of deaths may be significantly different. Here’s a quick primer on what all the different numbers mean and how to understand them.
Meanwhile, as of 9am on Friday, 108,692 people have tested positive for coronavirus – an increase of 5,599 in 24 hours.
Some 21,328 tests were carried out, despite health secretary Matt Hancock telling the coronavirus press conference on Thursday there was capacity for 35,000 a day. He blamed the underused capacity on lack of demand.
Of the 738 new deaths in England announced today:
- 138 occurred on April 16
- 320 occurred on April 15
- 109 occurred on April 14
The figures show 154 of the deaths took place between April 1 and April 13, and the remaining 16 deaths occurred in March, with the earliest newly recorded death taking place on March 21 – nearly a month ago.
NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths 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.
The figures published today by NHS England show that April 8 currently has the highest total for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day – 792 – although this could change in future updates.