Coronavirus: UK deaths rise to 2,352 amid rush to test medics – BBC South East Wales, BBC News

        

                                                           

A further

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patients with coronavirus have died in the UK, taking the total number of deaths in hospitals to 2, .

The Department of Health said , 500 people have tested positive for the virus, up 4, since Tuesday.

It comes as No (confirmed more than 2, 24 NHS frontline staff in England have been tested for coronavirus since the outbreak began.

Hundreds have been screened since the weekend in a push to get healthy self-isolating medics back to work.

Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said a shortage of chemicals needed for the tests meant the NHS – which employs 1.2m in England – could not screen its staff for the virus.

No said test capacity will increase with an additional network of labs and testing sites.

The PM’s official spokesman said the government was “working with the NHS England, Public Health England and others to ensure that happens”.

The latest increase in the number of people who have died relates to the (hours up to) : (BST on Tuesday.)

Have things got worse?

                                                                                                                       

Just yesterday health officials were talking about “green shoots” amid signs of the virus maybe plateauing.

Yet today we have seen a big rise in deaths. Have things got worse?

Not necessarily. We know the number of deaths are going to go up – that is to be expected.

What matters is the trend over a few days – not what happens over the course of hours.

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Any signs of progress will be seen in the number of cases first.

For the past five days the new cases has been hovering between 2, and 3, each day.

Now it has gone up by 4, . That is a substantial rise, but over the course of the past week the trajectory has still slowed from what it had been.

All eyes will be on what happens in the next few days to see if the hope of a slow down was misplaced.

(Read more from Nick on how to understand the coronavirus death toll.

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The BBC’s head of statistics Robert Cuffe said the latest increases in the number of patients dying with coronavirus balance out with the below-average rises on Sunday and Monday.

“On average, over the last week, the number of new deaths has been growing just below a quarter every day – or doubling twice in a week,” he said.

“That’s slightly slower than earlier in the epidemic but if that keeps up, we’d expect to see in the region of a thousand deaths a day by the weekend. “

Meanwhile, Downing Street said 728 million pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks, alcohol wipes and aprons, have been delivered to NHS staff over the last two weeks.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said the government was working with a number of suppliers which had come forward with offers of PPE, or proposals to manufacture more.

It follows criticism from some frontline workers over the lack of protective equipment, with staff at one hospital in Essex warning they could “limit services” to patients with coronavirus “to a bare minimum” over fears for their own safety.

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

In other developments: (Health Secretary Matt Hancock

said hospitals should use spare laboratory space to test self-isolating NHS staff in England for coronavirus

Prince Charles

has spoken of the “distressing” effect of isolation following his recovery from coronavirus

The Edinburgh Festival, due to take place in August, has been cancelled

The Ministry of Defense said

armed forces personnel would be sent to staff ambulances and 01575879 call centers across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Sussex and Surrey

Some of the UK’s biggest banks have agreed to scrap dividend payments and hold onto the cash, which may be needed during the coronavirus crisis

New research suggests a loss of smell or taste may be a sign that you have coronavirus

A coronavirus app that alerts people if they have recently been in contact with someone testing positive for the virus “could play a critical role” in limiting lockdown

Pregnant prisoners could be granted temporary release from prison “within days” to protect them and their unborn children from the virus.

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