UK records 44 new Covid deaths – the lowest Saturday tally since lockdown began
UK records 44 new Covid deaths – HALF the number from this time last week and the lowest Saturday tally since lockdown began – on day England’s pubs, hairdressers and restaurants reopen for business
- Some 44 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in UK hospitals, according to the latest figures
- Total number of coronavirus deaths in UK hospitals is now at 44,175 as final tallies are counted for today
- The 39 deaths in English hospitals were aged between 45 and 99 and all had underlying health conditions
Published: 09:50 EDT, 4 July 2020 | Updated: 11:11 EDT, 4 July 2020
Another 44 people have died of coronavirus in UK hospitals – half the 84 deaths announced this time last week, health officials have revealed.
The total number of people to die after testing positive for COVID-19 in the UK is now 44,175, but this figure is expected to rise when final tallies are shared later today.
Some 39 patients who died in England were aged between 45 and 99 years old and all had known underlying health conditions. There were five deaths in Wales and none in Scotland.
Further figures for deaths in the community are expected to be released within the next few hours.
It comes the same day thousands of pubs and restaurants across the country opened their doors to customers for the first time since lockdown began on March 23.
Yesterday Number 10’s scientific advisers revealed the R rate — the average number of people each Covid-19 patient infects — is still between 0.7 and 0.9 as a whole for the UK.
It comes the same day thousands of pubs and restaurants across the country opened their doors to customers for the first time since lockdown began on March 23. Pictured, a crowd outside The Market Porter Pub in Borough Market, London, today
But SAGE admitted it could be as high as 1.1 in London, and 1 in the Midlands, the North East and Yorkshire, the South East and the South West.
Separate data released by the government panel also claimed the UK’s current growth rate — how the number of new cases is changing day-by-day — may be 0 per cent, meaning it has stagnated.
Coronavirus outbreaks could even be growing in London and the South West by two per cent each day.
Britain yesterday recorded 137 more Covid-19 deaths. Official data also shows Britain’s daily number of fatalities have not fallen as quickly in July as they did last month.
Analysis shows the rolling average of daily deaths now stands at 103 — the fewest since the end of March, when the UK’s crisis spiralled out of control.
The newly married Mr and Mrs Bone, Lucy and James, after their wedding at St Michael and all Angels Church in Ingram, Northumberland, as weddings are once again permitted to take place in England, with ceremonies capped at a maximum of 30 guests
Number 10’s scientific advisers today revealed the R rate — the average number of people each Covid-19 patient infects — is still between 0.7 and 0.9 as a whole for the UK
But it has only dropped 15 per cent since last Friday, when 186 new fatalities were recorded. Death rates were dropping by up to 30 per cent week-on-week through mid-June.
Department of Health figures released yesterday also show only 544 new cases were diagnosed, the smallest 24-hour jump since March 17 — a week before ministers first imposed the lockdown.
But other estimates suggest the number of actual cases has plateaued at around 3,500 per day for three weeks.
Meanwhile, bride Lucy Johnston, 25, and her groom James Bone, 28, married in front of 27 guests at St Michael and All Angels Church in the hamlet of Ingram in the Northumberland National Park today.
Retired vicar Rev Marion Penfold was given permission to marry the couple who live in Fawdon in the next valley.
Weddings were allowed to go ahead with up to 30 guests, according to lockdown rules enforced from today.
This morning pubs in England were allowed to open from 6am, with police and the NHS bracing themselves for fall-outs as people continue to drink into the night to shake off nearly four months in lockdown.
A group of mates give a toast with their pints at the Shakespeare’s Head pub in Holborn, central London, as it reopened today
Customers queue outside the Fat Cat Brewery Tap pub in Norwich on Saturday afternoon
In yesterday’s Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister claimed the UK has continued to make ‘progress nationally against the virus’ but cautioned that the ‘vicious’ disease ‘is still out there’
Screens were put up on the Atlas Bar and cafe in Manchester as the new era of going out to socialise with others began today
Pub-goers are set to sink a staggering 15 million pints at 23,000 establishments across the country, experts predicted.
They will be hit with hiked prices for beer, wine, cider and spirits as pubs including Wetherspoons desperately try to make up for lost business.
With the new coronavirus rules not published until Friday afternoon, some landlords had planned to open as soon as the clock ticked past midnight. But Downing Street scotched the swift openings by ensuring the ban remained in place until after sunrise.
Up to half of pubs have not been able to open because of insufficient notice from the Government, the national chairman of the Campaign for Read Ale (Camra) said.
Speaking after raising a pint of Marston’s Pedigree to mark the end of England’s 105-day pub shutdown, Camra’s Nik Antona said many licensees had done a fantastic job to reopen so quickly.
After meeting Steve and Katy Boulter, who run the Royal Oak in Barton-under-Needwood in Staffordshire, Mr Antona said one-way systems, protective screens and other measures had made pubs safe.
But he added: ‘I think it’s going to be difficult for pubs. They are opening up under uncertain circumstances. They don’t know if they’re going to get their customers back.’
Sitting near a Perspex screen which had been used to divide up a large table beside the Royal Oak’s main bar area, Mr Antona said pubs had not been given enough notice of the date on which they were allowed to reopen.
‘These pubs have had to bend over backwards to get things done in time,’ he said. ‘That’s why quite a few pubs haven’t opened – because they just haven’t had an opportunity to do everything they needed to do in time.
‘I think the Government could have done better – they could have given more notice. They left it to the very last minute to help these pubs and the ones that have opened today have done a fantastic job to get there.’
Meanwhile, Department of Health figures released on Thursday showed 205,673 tests were carried out or posted the day before. The number includes antibody tests for frontline NHS and care workers.
But bosses again refused to say how many people were tested, meaning the exact number of Brits who have been swabbed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a mystery for a month — since May 22.
An early punter enters The Hope &Champion in Beaconsfield, Bucks, and uses hand sanitiser station on the door to help stop the spread of coronavirus
The doors of The Buck Inn in Sadberge, Teesside, opened to customers wanting a pint for breakfast, with this man being served by a masked barman
Health chiefs also reported 544 more cases of Covid-19, marking the smallest daily jump in new infections since a week before lockdown was imposed. Only 407 cases were confirmed on March 17.
Government statistics show the official size of the UK’s outbreak now stands at 284,276 cases. But the actual size of the outbreak is estimated to be in the millions, based on antibody testing data.
Officials revised the actual number of confirmed cases Thursday to take 30,000 duplicates they stumbled across through ‘methodological improvements and a revision to historical data’.
But the actual number of confirmed coronavirus cases is much lower than the estimated daily infections made by the ONS, mainly because not everyone who catches the virus shows any symptoms and opts for a test.
Builders queuing to get into the Briar Rose on Bennetts Hill in Birmingham early on Saturday morning to get their first pint in
Separate data released by the government panel also claimed the UK’s current growth rate — how the number of new cases is changing day-by-day — could be between 0 per cent, meaning it has stagnated, or minus 6 per cent
ONS data suggested 25,000 people across the country currently have Covid-19, or one in 2,200 people (0.04 per cent of the population) — a huge drop on the 51,000 active cases the week before.
But the same data showed the virus is spreading at a slightly quicker rate, with an estimated 25,000 new cases in the week ending June 27 — up from the 22,000 infections occurring in the community the week before.
ONS statisticians, who made their projection based on swab testing of 25,000 people picked at random, warned the speed at which the outbreak is declining has ‘levelled off’.
They added: ‘At this point, we do not have evidence that the current trend is anything other than flat.’
The daily death data given by the Department of Health does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours — it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities.
More to follow.
