A further 861 people have died in the UK after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals to 13,729
Meanwhile, the nationwide lockdown is expected to be extended for three weeks today, as Matt Hancock insisted that lifting lockdown rules would “take time”.
While there has been a “flattening” in the number of deaths, the Health Secretary said the numbers are still “far too high”.
He said: “It is too early to say now that we should remove the measures and people can see that whilst we may be reaching a peak, the numbers aren’t coming down yet.”
A key government advisor has warned social distancing must remain in place until a coronavirus vaccine is found.
Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If we relax measures too much we’ll see a resurgence of transmission. We will have to maintain some level of social distancing indefinitely until we have a vaccine available.”
