Get our daily coronavirus email newsletter with all the news you need to know direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Britain's coronavirus hospital death toll has risen to 17,408 after 873 more fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours - a huge rise after lower figures at the weekend.

England recorded 778 new deaths on Tuesday, Scotland reported 70 and Wales had 25 as the UK entered its fifth week in lockdown. Northern Ireland had not yet reported its latest figures.

The true toll will be far higher when deaths in care homes, privates homes and hospices - for which there is no official running total - are included.

New figures released separately on Tuesday found that coronavirus deaths were 41 per cent higher in England and Wales than the Government's hospital-only figures up to April 10.

The latest rise came as NHS staff on the front line of the Covid-19 fight continue to wait for the Government to come through on its promise of new stocks of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Have you been affected by coronavirus? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk.

(Image: Getty Images)

Until Tuesday, the UK saw two consecutive drops in the daily number of new coronavirus deaths - from 885 on Saturday to 534 on Sunday and down to 463 on Monday.

Monday single-day total was the lowest in two weeks since 441 fatalities were reported on April 6.

However, figures reported from the weekend tend to be lower because many deaths from Saturdays and Sundays are not counter until later, resulting in a spike in the following weekdays.

The Department of Health has separately reported a daily rise in the UK death toll of 828, amounting to a total of 17,337.

The central government official total usually lags behind than that of the four nations added together as it does not include the most up-to-date figures from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

England's death toll rises to 15,607

NHS England has announced 778 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 15,607.

Of the 778 new deaths announced today:

- 136 occurred on April 20

- 236 occurred on April 19

- 121 occurred on April 18

The figures also show 242 of the deaths took place between April 1 and April 17, and the remaining 43 deaths occurred in March, with the earliest new death taking place on March 21.

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.

(Image: Getty Images)

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 on Tuesday by NHS England show April 8 currently has the highest total for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day - 815 - although this could change in future updates.

New deaths in Scotland take total to 985

Scotland reported 70 new deaths on Monday, taking its total to 985.

There are now 8,672 confirmed cases, up by 222 from the day before.

(Image: PA)

Of those, 166 patients in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms, a decrease of three on Monday, and 1,866 people are in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, up from 1,809.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the number of people being admitted to intensive care with coronavirus in Scotland is reducing.

While she would "urge caution in interpreting the figures", she said, the number of people being admitted to hospital appears to be "broadly stable" and the numbers being admitted to intensive care "are at this stage reducing".

She said the fact the NHS is not being overwhelmed is down in part to the lockdown restrictions.

Wales' death toll rises to 609

A further 25 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in Wales bringing the total number of deaths there to 609, health officials said.

There were 304 new cases, taking the total to 7,850.

(Image: PA)

Dr Giri Shankar, 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."

Nursing Notes, a platform run by nurses, said more than 100 health and care workers have now died of coronavirus.

The Government's official toll is much lower.

(Image: Getty Images)

Simon Clarke, minister of state for regional growth and local government, said the deaths of 49 NHS staff have been verified so far.

Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics said coronavirus was linked to a third of all deaths in England and Wales in the week up to April 10.

The total number of care home deaths had increased almost six-fold in seven days.

There were 18,516 deaths provisionally registered in England and Wales in the week ending April 10 - 7,996 deaths more than the five-year average and the highest weekly total since 2000.

Of the deaths registered in the week ending April 10, 6,213 mentioned "novel coronavirus (Covid-19)", which is around a third (33.6%) of all deaths.

This is up from 3,475 (21.2% of all deaths) last week.

And there were more than 1,000 coronavirus-related care home deaths registered up to April 10, up from 217 the week before.

This week's figures show the proportion of Covid-19-related deaths taking place outside hospitals has risen from 10% to 16%.

(Image: SWNS)

NHS health and care workers on the front line continue to face shortages of PPE.

Downing Street was unable to say when an RAF plane waiting on a runway in Turkey would return to the UK with a consignment of personal protective equipment.

Asked what the hold-up was, the Prime Minister's spokesman said: "I don't have the details of the reason for the delay. As I say, we want it to be resolved as quickly as possible and the RAF is able to then bring the cargo back to the UK."

He added: "As you know, we are seeking to source PPE from a number of countries and yesterday, for example, 140,000 gowns arrived from Burma."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock had vowed that the UK would be carrying out 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of April.

As the end of the month nears, just 19,316 tests were carried out in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday.

Mr Hancock said on Tuesday the Government is doing its "very best" to hit the 100,000-a-day target.

Critics had said the Government was unlikely to achieve its goal.

Downing Street insisted Boris Johnson - who is continuing his recovery from Covid-19 - had full confidence in Mr Hancock.