Coronavirus: More than 20,000 are dead in UK

Over 20,000 people are dead in United Kingdom’s hospitals, as the deadly Coronavirus continues to sweep through the land.

According to the Department of Health and Social Care, as of 9am 25 April, 640,792 tests had been concluded, with 28,760 tests on 24 April.

“517,836 people have been tested of which 148,377 tested positive. As of 5pm on 24 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 20,319 have sadly died,” it said.

The latest figures showed a total of 20,319 deaths in the UK, up by 813 on the previous day.

At the government’s daily briefing, the home secretary described the figure as a “tragic and terrible milestone”.

Last month, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said keeping deaths below 20,000 would be a “good outcome”.

According to the BBC, It is 51 days since the first virus-related death was announced in the UK.

At the Downing Street briefing, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “As the deaths caused by this terrible virus pass another tragic and terrible milestone, the entire nation is grieving.”

She warned that “we are not out of the woods yet”, and said people must continue to follow social distancing measures to curb the spread of the virus.

The government’s figures do not account for deaths that have happened in care homes, at home, in hospices or elsewhere in the community.

These are measured separately by the Office for National Statistics, based on death certificates, and a weekly figure is announced each Tuesday.

Last week that figure indicated that there were at least 1,662 deaths, up to 10 April, that were above the hospital-based number.

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