UK coronavirus surge as 639 people die in hospital

The Department of Health announced a surge on Tuesday after 639 more people died in hospital from coronavirus, the total now stands at 21,731.

The true number of deaths is much higher and could be over 33,000 as the official record only counts hospital deaths and not those in the community.

The healthcare regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported 4,343 coronavirus related deaths in care homes in England in just two weeks.

The figure was the latest date released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS said there was 22,351 deaths week ending 17 April, up by 3,835 from the previous week. The ONS recorded 11,854 more deaths than the fiver year average.

During the week coronavirus was mention in 8,758 registered deaths, which includes all deaths across England and Wales in hospitals or in the community.

A government scientific advisor has said that up to 100,000 coronavirus tests will be needed with widespread testing and tracing strategy to end the lockdown.