Coronavirus: Another 180 people die after testing positive in UK - pushing total to 1,415

It comes as the boss of the NHS in England said 9,000 people were being treated in hospital after contracting the virus.

By Lucia Binding, News reporter @luciabinding

Image: A sign at a pub in Fleet, Hampshire

The number of people who have died in the UK after contracting the coronavirus has hit 1,415, following 180 more deaths.

The latest increase is down from yesterday's rise of 207.

The Department of Health and Social Care said 1,408 had now died - but that does not include six more deaths announced earlier in Scotland, and one in Northern Ireland.

Chief Nurse: 'We are ramping up testing'

UK deaths

:: England - 159 more deaths, 1,284 in total

:: Scotland - 6 more deaths, 47 in total

:: Wales - 14 more deaths, 62 in total

More on Coronavirus

:: Northern Ireland - 1 more death, 22 in total.

It comes as the boss of the NHS in England said 9,000 people were being treated in hospital after contracting the virus - a rise of 2,800 since Friday.

Advertisement
Police seek hospital hand sanitiser thief

More than 22,000 people in the UK are now confirmed to have the virus - although the true figure is believed to be many times higher.

As of Monday, 134,946 tests have been carried out: 112,805 were negative and 22,141 positive, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.

:: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

In Scotland, there were 1,563 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of 9am on Monday, up 179 from Sunday.

However, the country's chief medical officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood, said the actual number is estimated at more than 100,000.

Scotland's first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said the SEC Centre in Glasgow is going to be turned into a hospital, and cancer screening programmes paused to help the NHS deal with the crisis.

Confirmed cases in Wales have risen to 1,451, after 210 new infections were recorded on Monday.

Dr Giri Shankar, incident director for the COVID-19 outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said "the true number of cases is likely to be higher".

Coronavirus UK tracker: How many cases are in your area – updated daily

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Sunday the UK had reached 10,000 tests a day - ahead of schedule as the government works towards 25,000 daily tests.

Meanwhile, health minister Helen Whately has defended the UK's testing, following growing calls to hugely expand the programme.

This is a limited version of the story so unfortunately this content is not available.
Open the full version

:: Listen to the All Out Politics podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

She told Sky News the UK was "right at the top of the league table" for testing - despite admitting countries such as South Korea and Germany have conducted many more tests.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has previously called on national governments to "test, test, test" as the "backbone" of the global response to the pandemic.

WHO figures show the increase in new infections worldwide is now around 70,000 per day - up from about 50,000 just days ago. More than 32,000 people have died worldwide.

Outbrain