UK's coronavirus cases rise by 1035 to 5018 in biggest daily increase yet

Follow our live updates here Coronavirus: the symptoms
It was the biggest daily surge yet
PA
Luke O'Reilly21 March 2020

The number of people to test positive for coronavirus in the UK went up by more than 1000 in 24 hours to 5,018.

The Department of Health said that a total of 72,818 people have been tested, with 67,800 negative results.

It came as the number of people across the country who have died after testing positive for Covid-19 reached 233, with a 41-year-old patient thought to be the youngest victim in the UK since the outbreak began.

All 53 whose deaths were announced in England on Saturday had underlying health conditions and the eldest was 94, NHS England said.

Wales’s death toll has risen to five, Scotland’s now stands at seven and Northern Ireland’s remains at one.

Meanwhile, Italy’s grim coronavirus toll continues to soar, with officials announcing 793 deaths and 6,557 new cases in the space of one day.

The country, which at the heart of western Europe’s outbreak, now counts 53,578 known cases, and 4,825 deaths in total.

More than 60% of the latest deaths occurred in the northern region of Lombardy, whose hospitals have been reeling under a staggering case load that has left intensive care beds hard to find and respirators in short supply.

Ireland also saw a steep rise in Covid-19 cases, increasing by 102 to 785.

As of Friday, the country has seen three people die of the illness.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in