THE UK coronavirus death toll has increased by 569 today to 2,961.
The biggest increase in deaths to date comes after NHS figures suggested more than 1.7million Brits may already have been infected by the virus.
Since March 18, 1,496,651 people registered only symptoms in line with Covid-19, while another 243,543 assessments were made through NHS 111 and 999 calls.
However this may not mean each call or web assessment was for a different person.
NHS staff may be forced to stop using life-saving treatment, such as ventilators, on dying patients if others with the virus are more likely to survive.
Health workers could be forced to make the decision if hospitals become overwhelmed with patients infected with Covid-19, the latest advise from the British Medical Association (BMS) says.
The document warns decisions around rationing resources, such as ventilators, could determine whether large numbers of patients will receive life-saving treatment or not.
Staff at the NHS Nightingale Hospital in London have been told to brace themselves for deaths ahead of the opening of the new field hospital.
Volunteers at the 4,000-bed field hospital set up in the ExCel Centre in the east of the capital have reportedly been warned up to 80 per cent of coronavirus patients who are on ventilators will probably die.
