A total of 19,506 patients had died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Thursday, the Department of Health said, up by 768 from 18,738 the day before.

The daily figure is up on the previous day when 616 people were confirmed to have died but a further 84 were added later in the day due to a delay in reporting from one Welsh health trust.

The figure is 768 higher than the equivalent total announced yesterday, although the Government is reporting the day-on-day change as 684.

The reason for the difference in these two figures is to do with how deaths are being incorporated into historic data retrospectively.

Yesterday’s cumulative total announced by the Department of Health was 18,738, which is 768 below today’s cumulative total of 19,506.

Rather than include these 84 deaths in today’s increase, the Department of Health has added them to yesterday’s cumulative total, to create a notional total for yesterday of 18,822 (18,738 + 84).

NHS England announced that of the new deaths, 587 happened in England, taking the total number in the country to 17,373.

Of the 587 new deaths announced 107 occurred on April 23, 242 on April 22 and 55 occurred on April 21.

Delays in reporting deaths can be attributed to delays in obtaining positive results, post-mortem outcomes, and for testing data to be validated.

Meanwhile, 110 people died after testing positive in Wales, bringing the total number of deaths there to 751, health officials said.

A total of 1,184 patients have died in Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19, a rise of 64 from 1,120 on Thursday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

Speaking at her daily coronavirus briefing, she said 9,697 people have now tested positive for the virus in Scotland, an increase of 288 from 9,409 the day before.

The number of people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 is 1,710, a fall of 38 from 1,748 on Thursday, while 141 of these patients are intensive care, down seven, she added.

She said the drop in hospital and intensive care figures is a “growing cause for optimism that the lockdown is working to suppress the virus”.

Nicola Sturgeon says there is a growing cause for optimism. Credit: PA

Downing Street has confirmed that in the 24 hours up to 9am on Thursday, 23,560 tests for coronavirus were carried out.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters that total capacity for testing now stands at 51,121 per day.

The number of NHS care workers and relatives tested has reached 119,333, with absence rates due to coronavirus among doctors at 4.1% and 8.2% for nurses in the NHS in England.

That compares to 6.6% for doctors and 9.5% for nurses on April 4.

“I think it is important to point to progress there,” the spokesman said.

Public Health Wales said a further 243 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 8,601.

Just 1,027 tests were carried out on Thursday, with a total of 29,931 carried out across Wales. There is current capacity for 1,800 tests daily.

Dr Robin Howe, from Public Health Wales, said: “Based on the new case numbers there is emerging evidence suggesting a levelling-off in the number of new cases of Covid-19 in Wales, which may be an indication of the effectiveness of lockdown measures.

“However, it is still too early to tell for sure, and it is too soon to end the current social distancing rules.

“Public Health Wales continues to fully support the extension of lockdown measures, which is essential to avoid reversing the gains we have made in slowing the spread of this virus, protecting our NHS, and saving lives.”

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