Another 89 people die bringing UK’s coronavirus death toll close to 44,000
The Department of Health has confirmed another 89 deaths across the UK, bringing the Covid-19 death toll close to 44,000.
A total of 43,995 people have lost their lives in hospitals, care homes and the wider community.
The Department of Health announced on Thursday night that a cumulative total of 283,757 people have tested positive across the UK since the start of the outbreak. However, it said yesterday that 313,483 had received positive results – suggesting a drop of almost 30,000.
It added that 576 people have tested positive in the last 24 hours, meaning the cumulative total so far should come to 314,059. The daily tally is usually shared in the afternoon after 2pm but today’s figures were released just before 9.30pm.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson did not announce the figures during this evening’s coronavirus press briefing to the nation, marking the first time the official conference has finished without revealing the figures.
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As of 9am on July 2, 9,914,663 people have been tested across the country overall for Covid-19, including 252,084 tests in the last 24 hours, the department added.
Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries told parents during tonight’s No 10 press briefing that they should ‘control their teenagers’ in social situations outside of school time to stop the spread of the virus.
Mr Williamson admitted that he cannot promise that some schools will not be shut down in local lockdowns if England is hit by a second wave of coronavirus in winter.
Today’s figures come ahead of a huge relaxation of lockdown rules on Saturday, when pubs, bars, restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas are allowed to reopen for the first time since March.
On Wednesday the government deleted a tweet encouraging people to ‘raise a glass’ and celebrate pubs reopening, with critics branding it ‘tone deaf’ given the number of people who are still dying each day.
Although across the country the number of daily confirmed cases and deaths has been falling since the peak in April, the virus is spreading more quickly in some local areas, creating hotspots.
On Monday, Leicester became the first area of the country forced into a local lockdown, meaning residents will not be able to celebrate the lifting of restrictions on July 4.
It has been reported that more local lockdowns could be ‘days away’, with data showing confirmed cases have been rising across 36 of the 151 upper-tier local authorities in England.
The places include Barnsley, Bradford, Rochdale, Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, Kirklees, Oldham, Rotherham, Tameside and Peterborough.
Each of the areas now has more than 38 cases of the virus per 100,000 people, but the numbers are still far lower than Leicester, which has more than double the number of weekly coronavirus cases than the next highest area
Leicester is recorded as having 140.2 weekly cases of coronavirus per 100,000, while Bradford, in second place, has 69.44.
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