Britain announces 186 more Covid-19 deaths

Britain today announced 186 more coronavirus deaths as worrying official data shows the average number of daily victims has risen for the second day in a row.

Department of Health data shows the official daily toll is 7.5 per cent higher than the 173 recorded last Friday, amid mounting fears the UK could be rocked by a second wave of Covid-19 as lockdown eases.

The laboratory-confirmed death toll now stands at 43,414 – but separate grim government statistics show the real number of fatalities since the crisis began to spiral out of control is closer to 55,000.

Data shows the seven-day rolling average of daily deaths is now 121, up from 119 yesterday and 118 the day before – the first time it has increased for two days in a row since the end of May. 

For comparison, almost 950 Britons were dying from Covid-19 each day during the peak of the outbreak in mid-April. 

Despite signs of the death curve flattening, Scotland today recorded no new deaths – the first time no fatalities have been recorded on a weekday north of the border since the pandemic began. 

Separate promising statistics released yesterday showed the R rate has remained below the dreaded level of one for yet another week and that the number of new cases is still shrinking by as much as 4 per cent each day. 

In other coronavirus developments in Britain today: 

• Britain’s biggest shopping centres including Lakeside and the Trafford Centre could have to close as their owner Intu admitted it will likely have to call in administrators;
• Boris Johnson warned of the danger of a ‘serious spike’ in coronavirus infections if people take ‘liberties’ with social distancing rules;
• The risk of dying from coronavirus after being hospitalised has plummeted since the peak of the outbreak, Oxford University statisticians found – dropping from 6 per cent to 1.5 per cent; 
• Police chiefs warned that a ‘pressure cooker is building up’ which could erupt into an orgy of violence this summer as lockdown ends;
• Men working in factories or as security guards were being killed by coronavirus at more than twice the rate of healthcare staff during the height of the crisis in Britain, shock official data showed;
• Sweden’s top virus expert said the ‘world went mad’ with coronavirus lockdowns which ‘fly in the face of what is known about handling virus pandemics’.

Department of Health statistics released today showed 165,665 tests were carried out or posted yesterday. The number includes antibody tests for frontline NHS and care workers.

But bosses again refused to say how many people were tested, meaning the exact number of Brits who have been swabbed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a mystery for a month — since May 22.

Health chiefs also reported 1,006 more cases of Covid-19, which is slightly down on the 1,118 that were recorded yesterday. It means the official size of Britain’s outbreak now stands at 309,360 cases. 

The daily death data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours — it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities.

The data does not always match updates provided by the home nations. For example, the Scottish government last Thursday announced two deaths – but the DH recorded nine north of the border.

Department of Health officials work off a different time cut-off, meaning daily updates from Scotland as well as Northern Ireland are always out of sync. Wales is not thought to be affected.

And the count announced by NHS England every afternoon — which only takes into account deaths in hospitals — does not match up with the DH figures because they work off a different recording system.

For instance, some deaths announced by NHS England bosses will have already been counted by the Department of Health, which records fatalities ‘as soon as they are available’. 

NHS England today reported 67 more victims in hospitals across the country. Wales recorded two victims in all settings, followed by one in Northern Ireland and none in Scotland.

Health chiefs today revealed the death toll had jumped to 43,414, which is actually 184 more than yesterday’s toll – not 186. 

But they admitted two deaths identified by Public Health Wales had been taken off the cumulative toll because they were duplicates.