UK coronavirus hospital death toll rises to 13,729

New government figures put confirmed infection rate above 100,000

A total of 13,729 patients have died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK after a daily increase of 861 as the number of people infected with the virus since the UK epidemic began rises into six figures.

So far 103,093 people have been diagnosed with the virus as of Thursday morning, according to the Department of Health and Social Care, with 4,618 new cases compared to 4,065 the day before.

The death toll for hospitalised patients stood at around 13,700 at 5pm on Wednesday, compared to 12,868​ the day before.

However the figure does not include the number of deaths recorded at care homes and in private houses - a rate tallied up by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) on a weekly basis.

On Tuesday it was revealed an additional 2,142 deaths related to the virus had not been incorporated in the the department for health's numbers, according to ONS figures, putting the real death toll at the time at 6,235.

It comes after health officials have suggested the number of newly infected people is beginning to plateau, offering hope that social distancing measures are helping to mitigate the spread of the virus through society.

Speaking at the government's daily briefing on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defence's chief medical officer Angela McLean said the numbers of cases of people testing positive for Covid-19 had not increased for the past two weeks.

"What I see here is evidence that everybody's efforts to stay home and not have as much contact with other people is having the impact we hoped it would have and bring this epidemic to a much better trajectory where this is currently flat and no longer rising," she added.