UK coronavirus death toll increases by 148 in past 24 hours - more than double same day last week

11 July 2020, 20:09

A woman wearing a face mask and face shield walks along Piccadilly in London
A woman wearing a face mask and face shield walks along Piccadilly in London. Picture: PA

By Megan White

148 more people have died from coronavirus across the UK in the past 24 hours – more than double the same day last week.

The Department of Health and Social Care said 44,798 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Friday - up from 44,650 the previous day.

The death toll for the same period last week was 67 – fewer than half.

Read more: Government's face mask advice needs to be 'simple', says former health secretary

But the rolling average of daily deaths continues to fall, with the number of confirmed Covid cases also decreasing.

The Government figures do not include all deaths involving Covid-19 across the UK, which are thought to have passed 55,000.

Dr Susan Michie on how people should be wearing face masks

The DHSC also said that in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Saturday, 153,667 tests were carried out or dispatched across all pillars, with 820 positive results.

Overall, a total of 288,953 cases have been confirmed.

38 people who tested positive for coronavirus died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths in hospitals to 29,051, NHS England said.

The patients were aged between 40 and 98 and three patients, aged 65 to 86 years, had no known underlying health conditions.

Another seven deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

But no new deaths were reported in Scotland in the last 24 hours, according to the Scottish Government.

Listen & subscribe: Global Player | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

A total of 2,490 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, no change on Friday's figure.

The latest figures show that 18,340 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by seven from 18,333 the day before.

A total of six patients are in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a fall of six on the previous day.