UK coronavirus LIVE: Death toll rises by 74 as crowded beaches fuel fears of coronavirus surge

Town hall leaders have warned that it is becoming "unmanageable" to enforce social distancing measures on beaches as hundreds of thousands of sunseekers flock to the coast.

The coastguard recorded its busiest day in more than four years yesterday with 329 callouts across the UK, with further crowds expected on beaches today.

It comes after a wave of new coronavirus infections prompted Boris Johnson to reimpose lockdown restrictions in some areas of north west England, and postpone the reopening of certain businesses including bowling alleys and casinos.

Meanwhile, the UK coronavirus death toll has risen by 74, bringing the total number of fatalities to 46,193 as of 5pm on Friday. Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been more than 56,400 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

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