UK coronavirus death toll reaches 33,614 after 428 confirmed deaths
14 May 2020, 20:24
The UK's coronavirus death toll has risen by 428 today, bringing the total number of confirmed fatal cases to 33,614.
As of 5pm on May 13, of those tested positive for Covid-19, 33,614 have died, which includes deaths in all settings and not just hospitals, the Department of Health and Social Care for Public Health England confirmed.
Out of the 428 new deaths, 280 happened in a hospital setting, bringing the total numbers of deaths in hospitals to 27,776.
The Government has met its daily target for 100,000 Covid-19 tests, the figures suggest.
In the 24-hour period, up to 9am on Thursday, 126,064 tests were carried out. In total, 1,593,902 people have been tested and 233,151 tested positive.
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Public Health Wales said a further 10 people had tested positive for Covid-19 which brings the total number of cases to 1,164. A total of 2,007 patients have died in Scotland with the virus, Nicola Sturgeon confirmed.
Downing Street has insisted the Government's decision to stop sharing international comparisons of coronavirus deaths is not because they are embarrassed the UK appears to have had more fatalities than other European countries.
A graph showing a global Covid-19 death comparison has been shown at the daily Downing Street press conference since March, but was dropped this week - days after the UK's declared death toll from coronavirus passed Italy's to become the highest in Europe.
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The Prime Minister's official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: "Since introducing slides, we have varied the content and format.
"As we made clear in the slides, it is difficult to compare statistics across countries as countries report deaths in different ways so it is not possible to make like-for-like comparisons.
"Numerous experts have said that reliable international comparisons won't be possible until further along in the pandemic."
Asked whether the decision to drop the slide was because of embarrassment, the spokesman said: "No."
