The Department of Health said another 260 people across the UK have died in the last 24 hours, a significant one-day rise from 759 and by far the largest since the outbreak began.
The latest total is 34% higher than the equivalent figure yesterday, the largest day-on-day percentage increase since 18 March, when there was a 46% jump.
In England, a further 246 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths there to 935, NHS England said.
“Patients were aged between 33 and 100 years old and all but 13 – aged between 63 and 99 years old – had underlying health conditions,” it said in a statement.
A further four people died from coronavirus in Wales, bringing the total to 38, health officials have said. The country also reported 172 new confirmed cases, bringing the total to 1,093.
Dr Robin Howe, the Covid-19 incident director at Public Health Wales, said the true number of cases was likely to be higher:
Coronavirus is now circulating in every part of Wales. The single most important action we can all take in fighting coronavirus is to stay at home in order to protect the NHS and save lives.
We know that staying at home can be hard, and we want to thank each and every person across Wales for doing their bit to help slow the spread of the virus.
In Scotland, a further seven people have died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total there to 40, the Scottish government announced.
Two further people with Covid-19 have died in Northern Ireland, taking the toll to 15, the nation’s Public Health Agency said.
There were also 49 new positive cases of coronavirus confirmed on Saturday, bringing the total number of known cases there to 324.
Across the UK, a total of 120,776 people have been tested for coronavirus as of 9am on March 28, with 17,089 positive results. As of 5pm on Friday, of those threated in hospital in the UK, 1,019 have died.
