Coronavirus: UK deaths rise by 245 in a day to 41,128

Latest government figures published after scientists says half of all deaths could have been prevented by earlier lockdown

The UK coronavirus death toll has risen by 245 over 24 hours, according to the latest government figures.

The rise takes to country’s death toll to 41,128 in hospitals, care homes and the community.

A further 1,003 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the 24 hours up to 9am on Wednesday, taking the total number of infections since the beginning of the outbreak to 290,143.

The latest figures come after a leading scientist who advised the government to implement a lockdown said half of UK coronavirus deaths could have been prevented if restrictions had been brought in a week earlier.

Neil Ferguson, professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, told the Science and Technology Committee thousands of lives could have been saved by with earlier action.

He said: “The epidemic was doubling every three to four days before lockdown interventions were introduced.

“So, had we introduced lockdown measures a week earlier, we would have reduced the final death toll by at least a half.”

Boris Johnson refused to answer questions about whether he regretted delaying the UK’s lockdown at Wednesday’s Downing Street briefing, insisting it was “premature” to learn lessons or consider whether government had made mistakes.

At least 1,000 people infected with Covid-19 died in each in the UK for 22 days in a row in April, analysis published on Wednesday suggests.

Between 2 April and 23 April the daily death toll did not fall below 1,000, according to data published by the UK’s three statistical agencies. The data on the number of registered fatalities where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.

There were more than 45,000 deaths linked to coronavirus up to 29 May, according to the three agencies.