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How did the coronavirus spread in the UK and where is worst hit?
Jump in recorded deaths as fatalities in community added to daily tally
The total leapt up on Wednesday as deaths in the community, such as in care homes, were added to the tally for hospitals in daily official figures for the first time.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has been standing in for Boris Johnson, said the significantly increased total included previously unrecorded community deaths dating back to 2 March and did not indicate “a sudden surge” in fatalities.
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Meanwhile, latest figures show that 52,429 coronavirus tests were carried out on Tuesday - well short of the government’s target of 100,000 daily tests by the end of April.
So which regions of the UK have been hardest hit?
The total
A total of 166,441 people have tested positive and 26,097 have died from the Covid-19 coronavirus in the UK, according to the latest figures - although there are believed to be many more unreported cases.
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A total of 765 new deaths were confirmed in the 24 hours to 5pm on Tuesday.
How did the virus spread?
The first confirmed UK case of coronavirus was recorded in York at the end of January. Since then, the number of cases has increased dramatically, spreading fastest in urban centres with international transport connections.
As of Wednesday, London had reported more cases (24,090) than anywhere else in the country. Greater Manchester had confirmed 6,224 cases, with a further 2,782 infections in Birmingham, reports The Times.
Northwick Park in northwest London was one of the hospitals to first declare an emergency over the outbreak, with more than 50 coronavirus patients dying in a fortnight.
Another early hotspot was in the West Midlands, where an outbreak near a church caused a cluster of deaths at the Royal Wolverhampton Hospital.
