Coronavirus: 563 more COVID-19 deaths in UK as Boris Johnson admits more testing is needed

Another 563 people have died in the UK after contracting coronavirus - bringing the total number of deaths to 2,352 - as Boris Johnson admitted the UK needs to "massively ramp up" testing for the virus.

The prime minister, who is self-isolating in Downing Street after being diagnosed with COVID-19, said testing was "how we would unlock the coronavirus puzzle" and "defeat it in the end".

NHS staff have expressed frustration that they are being forced to self-isolate just as they are most needed, because tests are not available to show whether they are clear of the disease.

The number of deaths announced on Wednesday, which happened in the 24 hours before 5pm on Tuesday, was the UK's biggest day-on-day increase so far during the coronavirus outbreak.

The number of deaths in each country is:

In a video posted on Twitter on Wednesday evening, Mr Johnson said it was a "sad, sad day" and the UK needs to "massively ramp up" testing for coronavirus.

"It's crucial people who do have the disease are able to be tested positive and to take the necessary steps to isolate at home in the way that I am doing and many many others are doing," he said.

The latest coronavirus patients in England to die were aged between 13 and 99 years old, with 20 of the victims having no known underlying health condition, including the 13-year-old.

The deaths announced on Wednesday included leading NHS doctor Alfa Saadu, the former medical director at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex, who died after contracting coronavirus two weeks ago.

In other developments:

The Department of Health said 29,474 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 9am on Tuesday, 4,324 more than the 24 hours before.

Professor Yvonne Doyle, director of health protection for Public Health England, said the rise in infections was "slightly concerning".

She added: "It's still too early to say whether the plateau of hospital admissions has ended but we've now seen three days of increases in a row and again."

On testing, Prof Doyle said that 10,000 tests are now being carried out every day and the aim is to get to 25,000 tests by mid-April.

She added that the intention was to "get from thousands to hundreds of thousands" of tests for frontline workers in the coming weeks.

Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth called for an explanation on why the UK's COVID-19 testing is lagging behind other countries.

He said: "Germany are testing half a million people a week, yet we still haven't hit the 10,000 a day the prime minister promised.

"NHS staff are rightly asking if we've left it too late to buy the kits and chemicals we need, or whether our lab capacity is too overstretched after years of tight budgets."

The government has blamed a global lack of reagents needed to carry out tests, although the British chemical industry said there were no shortages.

There are about half a million frontline NHS staff.

Until now, the focus has been on testing patients in hospital to check if they have coronavirus, as NHS trusts were told they should use up to 15% of any spare testing capacity for NHS staff.

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock has now scrapped that cap, telling NHS hospital labs to use all spare capacity to test their frontline workers.

A letter from NHS England tells trusts to "max out" lab capacity to test staff, adding this "means immediate action please to 'industrialise' staff swabbing processes".

The Army will help move samples and swabs around the country "as quickly as possible", the letter said.

On hospital admissions, Prof Doyle said London "is where coronavirus is most advanced", adding: "But the chart shows that the threat is everywhere, we need to protect the NHS everywhere and the Midlands now is obviously a concern as well."

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Comparing the UK to other countries, Ms Doyle added: "As things stand it has not been as severe here as in France and we're just tucked in under the USA and obviously Italy [is] on a different trajectory. But there's no reason to be complacent."

England's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries, said on Monday she was anticipating the number of deaths to "get worse over the next week, possibly two" before they decline due to people adhering to the lockdown and social distancing measures.