16 more coronavirus deaths reported in UK

Kit Heren19 August 2020

A further 16 people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus.

The Government said 41,397 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, as of 5pm on Tuesday. These figures include people in all settings: hospitals, care homes and the wider community.

A further 812 people have tested positive for coronavirus as of 9am on Wednesday. Overall, 321,098 cases have been confirmed since the start of the outbreak, the Government added.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 57,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

Hospital staff with a patient 
POOL/AFP via Getty Images

It comes after regional authorities reported that 16 more people had died in UK hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus.

NHS England reported that 15 more people had died of the virus in hospitals, bringing total Covid-19 fatalities in the country to 29,480. Scotland also recorded another death.

The death in Scotland was from April 21 but had not yet been included in the figures, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

There were no further reported deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus in Wales or Northern Ireland, the countries' health officials said.

A further 21 people tested positive for the virus in Wales, bringing the revised confirmed cases to 17,620. Scotland saw a further 50 people become infected with the virus.

The new death toll represents the highest number of fatalities in hospitals on a Wednesday in August, after officials reported that 11 people died on August 12 and 15 on August 5.

Some commentators have questioned whether Baroness Harding is the right person to lead the National Institute for Health Protection (NIHP), which will partially replace the doomed Public Health England and respond to external health threats.

AP

Dr Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said the former TalkTalk telecoms boss' appointment “makes about as much sense as [chief medical officer] Chris Whitty being appointed the Vodafone head of branding and corporate image.”

But Mr Hancock told the BBC: "She’s simply the best person who could be doing this job now.

"She has enormous experience both in the private sector running very large organisations and this is a very large organisation, now with a budget of over £10 billion.

“Also in the NHS she’s been the chair of NHS Improvement, she’s been expanding and building that testing capacity... the test and trace system that is so effective in finding people now and asking them to self-isolate, so we’re very lucky to have her giving this public service at this critical time.”

NIHP will begin work immediately but will become formally operational next spring to reduce disruption during the pandemic, it was announced.

It will merge the coronavirus response work of Public Health England, NHS Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre in the “first step towards becoming a single organisation”, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

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