Yahoo News Coronavirus: UK's COVID-19 death toll rises by 586 to 21,678
The total number of deaths related to coronavirus in UK hospitals has risen to 21,678 – an increase of 586.
There are also now 161,145 confirmed cases, health secretary Matt Hancock said on Tuesday afternoon, a rise of 3,996.
A total of 19,295 people have died from coronavirus in English hospitals – a rise of 546 on Monday’s figures, according to data released earlier from NHS England.
Most of those deaths took place between 25 and 27 April, with 141 happening between 1 and 24 April and 20 occurring in March.
Across the rest of the UK, Scotland recorded 70, taking its total to 1,332, while Wales has recorded another 17 for a total of 813. Northern Ireland had not yet posted its latest figures.
The combined total from all four nations is different to the UK-wide figure released by the Department of Health due to differences in accounting.
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Global cases have already passed three million and there have been more than 212,000 deaths worldwide, with more than 906,000 recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Also on Tuesday, people across the UK held a minute’s silence at 11am in memory of NHS staff who have died after becoming infected with coronavirus.
Meanwhile, health secretary Matt Hancock was challenged by the son of Dr Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, who warned the government about the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and later died of COVID-19.
Intisar Chowdhury asked Hancock on LBC if the government regretted not taking his concerns “seriously enough”.
“Intisar, I’m really sorry about your dad’s death and I have seen the comments you’ve made and what you’ve said in public and I think it’s very brave of you to be speaking out in public.
“We took very, very seriously what your father said and we’ve been working around the clock to ensure that there’s enough protective equipment and in the case of anybody who works in the NHS or in social care and has died from coronavirus we look into it in each case to find out the reasons where they might have caught it and what lessons we can learn.”
Inistar said he did not expect the government response to the virus to be perfect but expected progression and for mistakes to be admitted.
“I think that it is very important that we’re constantly learning about how to do these things better and I think listening to the voices on the front line is a very, very important part of how we improve,” Hancock said.
Ahead of the one-minute’s silence, Labour leader Keir Starmer said “too many” people on the frontline of the outbreak had died.
In a video message, he said the nation owed them “a huge debt”.
“And as we reflect today at 11 o’clock, a minute’s silence on behalf of everybody who’s lost their lives, we think particularly of all the grieving families that have lost a loved one,” he said.
“Nobody should put their lives at risk because they haven’t got the right protective equipment. We owe it to them to make sure that we’ve got the right equipment, in the right place at the right time, and we will continue to press on that.
“We can’t go out and clap on a Thursday and pretend that, when this is over, we can return to business as usual. Many of those on the front line have been undervalued and underpaid for far, far too long.”
The prime minister also tweeted that the country would not forget the NHS workers who died.
This morning I took part in a minute’s silence to remember those workers who have tragically died in the coronavirus pandemic. The nation will not forget you. pic.twitter.com/6yV5PCINyM
— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) April 28, 2020
