UK coronavirus deaths up by 150 as cases jump by 16,171

The hospital death toll saw its biggest daily increase since June 10

The UK has recorded a further 16,171 coronavirus cases overnight.

This brings the total number of Covid-19 infections recorded across the country since the start of the pandemic to 705,428.

Another 150 fatalities from the disease were also confirmed in the past 24 hours, taking the official death toll to 43,579.

However, separate figures published by the Office for National Statistics show there have now been more than 58,500 deaths registered in the UK where the virus was mentioned on the death certificate.

Earlier on Saturday, British hospitals confirmed the deaths of a further 108 Covid patients – the highest daily total since early June.

Of these new fatalities, 86 were reported in England, 15 in Scotland, five in Wales and two in Northern Ireland.

It marks the most hospital deaths announced in a single day since 109 on June 10, and it is more than five times the total of 21 recorded on September 19.

Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures

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Separate figures show there were 4,814 Covid-19 patients in hospital in England on Saturday – up from 3,225 a week ago.

Of these, 494 were in ventilation beds, up from 396 a week ago.

A total of 792 patients with confirmed Covid-19 were admitted to hospitals in England on Thursday, compared with 513 a week earlier.

The majority were recorded in hospitals in the northwest and northeast of England, where many towns and cities are under tougher restrictions owing to the Government's new three-tiered system.

The North East and Yorkshire saw another 258 coronavirus patients admitted, while the South West recorded the lowest number of new admissions at 33.

The figures come as Boris Johnson faces renewed pressure to impose a short "circuit-breaker" national lockdown to curb the spike in infections across the country.

Government adviser Sir John Bell has stressed that a shutdown could be needed, potentially even including a two-week closure of schools in England.

Sir John, the regius professor of medicine at the University of Oxford, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I can see very little way of getting on top of this without some kind of a circuit-breaker because the numbers are actually pretty eye-watering in some bits of the country."

He added: "I think it’s going to be very hard to get on top of this just biting around the edges.

“If in the end we have to take kids out for two weeks, calm it all down, and then start ideally embedded in a much more rigorous testing regime then that’s maybe what we may have to do.”

The Prime Minister has been resisting calls to implement the measure over the October half term as he favours local measures, but said on Friday that he “can’t rule anything out”.

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