Queen Elizabeth II is to make a televised address to the UK and Commonwealth on Sunday evening as the world continues to be battered by coronavirus.

The UK posted 684 more deaths from the illness over the last 24 hours, a record number for the country. The UK’s current death toll stands at 3,605. Globally, more than 50,000 people have died from the fast-spreading virus.

On Sunday 5th April at 8pm (BST)

Her Majesty The Queen will address the UK and the Commonwealth in a televised broadcast. As well as on television and radio, The Queen’s address will be shown on The @RoyalFamily’s social media channels. pic.twitter.com/EADh7WNU7b — The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) April 3, 2020

The special address, to be aired at 20:00 BST (19:00 GMT), will also be broadcast on UK radio. National addresses from the Queen are rare and tend to come at times of annual ceremony or national crises.

According to the BBC, Sunday’s address will be only the fourth of her 68-year reign beyond her traditional message on Christmas Day. The other three previous speeches to be aired came after the Queen Mother’s death in 2002, ahead of Diana, Princess of Wales’s funeral in 1997 and about the First Gulf War in 1991.

The Queen has suspended her royal duties and is currently at Windsor Castle with the Duke of Edinburgh. Last month she issued a message on the outbreak saying the UK is “entering a period of great concern and uncertainty”.

The Queen’s son, the Prince of Wales, recently recovered from coronavirus.

The UK government has come under fire in recent days over a lack of testing in the country and a lack of protective equipment for frontline NHS workers.