UK: 381 Die From COVID-19 In 24 hours

The UK has seen a sharp jump in coronavirus deaths with 381 more people dying from the illness despite moves to rein the spread of the pandemic.

The latest deaths reported over the 24 hours to 5pm on Monday increased the UK’s death toll to 1,789 from coronavirus, according to health department figures.

The UK has 25,150 cases diagnosed. The latest bad news on deaths in recent days came after the Office for National Statistics reported earlier on Tuesday that many more people had been dying with coronavirus than hospital figures showed.

Although its data was almost two weeks old, it showed that by March 20, it had seen evidence of 210 deaths where Covid-19 was cited by an attending doctor as a potential factor compared with 170 people that the Department of Health and Social Care recorded as dying in hospital from the virus.

The ONS said its number “is higher than the figures the [health department] publish as it includes deaths related to Covid-19 that took place outside of hospitals and those not tested for Covid-19”.

The 210 figure is likely to rise as more deaths are recorded and registered on national systems, a process which can take some time.

Explaining the differences between the ONS data and the daily figures published by the NHS, Sarah Caul, head of mortality analysis at the ONS, said the statistical agency’s figures were “the most accurate and complete information”.

“Using the complete death certificate allows us to analyse a lot of information, such as what other health conditions contributed to the death,” she added.