THE latest figures released by the Department of Health reveal that 708 people have died in the UK in one day after testing positive for coronavirus, including a five-year-old boy.

  • The figures show an increase of 708 from 3,605 the day before.
  • Worldwide cases have passed 1.1 million, and at least 60,000 people have died.
  • Amongst those who died in the UK was a five-year-old child with underlying health conditions who became infected with the virus. In his daily live Covid-19 media briefing on Saturday April 4, UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has expressed his condolences to the child's parents and reiterated for the public to follow the government's social distancing measures saying "the more we restrict contact, the more we slow the spread of the infection, the more time we have to build capacity in the NHS."
  • Seven healthcare professionals have also died so far in the fight against Covid-19.
  • At the briefing Mr Gove said 10,984 people were tested for the virus on Friday, and a strategy is in place to increase the number 10-fold to 100,000 a day. It was also announced that clinical trials are taking place to see if antiviral drugs used to treat HIV and anti-malarial medicine hydroxychloroquine could treat coronavirus.
  • It was revealed at the briefing that hospital admission rates had gone up by 35% in Yorkshire and across the North East.

"Testing is a critical part of the clinical path we will follow in seeking to reduce the impact of Covid-19, but the next vital step is appropriate medical treatment," he said.

  • Hundreds of new ventilators are being manufactured in the UK every day and more had been sourced from abroad, including from partners from Germany and Switzerland, and from China who delivered 300 on Saturday. Mr Gove continued that the Government is also working with UK ventilator suppliers to manufacture existing and modified models in greater numbers and that the new models have been designed to be dispatched soon.
  • Mr Gove said a team from University College London working with Mercedes Benz has also produced a new non-invasive respirator that has been clinically approved.

Mr Gove confirmed the first ventilator devices ordered from medical devices company Penlon will begin arriving in hospitals next week.