Home Secretary Priti Patel told the daily Downing Street briefing that through the monitoring and testing programme, as of 9am on Saturday 640,792 tests have been carried out in the UK. This includes 28,760 on Friday, she said, and 148,377 people have tested positive for Covid-19.
Some 16,411 people are currently in hospital in the UK, down from 17,049 the day before.
She said that 20,319 people in hospital have now died, adding: “As the deaths caused by this terrible virus pass another tragic and terrible milestone, the entire nation is grieving.”
The Home Secretary asked the public to “not lose sight of the fact” that our efforts are working to stop the spread of the coronavirus. “You have fostered a spirit of national unity which is helping us to get through this challenging time,” she says. “The action we are collectively taking is working.”
Acknowledging the “frustration” felt by some, she adds: “We are not out of danger yet, it is imperative that people continue to follow the rules.”
Click here to read the latest coronavirus news: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/04/24/government-tells-uk-businesses-time-get-back-work/?WT.mc_id=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo&utm_source=tmgoff&utm_medium=tmg_youtube&utm_content=offsite_televideo&utm_campaign=tmg_youtube_offsite_televideo
Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Telegraph, the UK’s best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.
