UK’s Wednesday death tally doubles Monday’s count

The UK’s Department of Health confirmed that 936 people died after contracting coronavirus in the UK in the past 24 hours, the highest increase so far. This number more than doubles Monday’s tally of 439. The total death toll has now exceeded the 7,000 mark.

828 of these deaths were registered in England, 70 in Scotland, 33 in Wales and five in Northern Ireland. It is understood that the absolute majority of deaths concerned patients who had underlying health conditions.

In view of these figures, Edward Argar, Minister of Health, downplayed any calls for easing of the restrictions. Argar explained that: “We need to start seeing the numbers coming down and that’s when you’re in the negative,’ ‘That’s when you have a sense when that’s sustained over a period of time, that you can see it coming out of that.”

Despite the alarming rise in numbers Sir Patick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser explained that statistics were in line with Government’s projections and that figures “could be moving in the right direction”. However, he cautioned that another week or two are needed to be able to confirm this.”