UK coronavirus hospital death toll rises to 17,337

A further 828 deaths confirmed by government

The coronavirus death toll in UK hospitals has risen by more than 828 in one day.

Some 17,337 hospital patients who tested positive for Covid-19 had died as of 5pm on Monday, according to the Department for Health and Social Care’s latest figures.

That total does not include thousands of victims who have died in care homes.

At least 70 NHS workers are among the dead, according to a tally by PA news agency, although the true figure is thought to be far higher.

Some 18,206 people were tested for the virus on Monday, the government said, bringing to total number of tests carried out to 535,342.

A total of 397,670 people have been tested - some of them more than once. Of those, 129,044 were found to be positive.

On average, just under 13,600 people daily were tested for the first time in the week to Monday.

The government has set a target of carrying out 100,000 tests each day by the end of April, the latest figures show less than half of the available capacity is being used.

Downing Street has insisted Boris Johnson has full confidence in the health secretary, Matt Hancock, but the government has come under fire over both its testing programme and the availability of vital equipment for health staff.

Doctors, nurses, porters and domestic workers are among the dozens of healthcare staff who have died.

They include mother-of-two Josephine Peter, a nurse at Southport and Formby District General Hospital, who died on Saturday. She was described by her husband as a "heroine".

Cabinet minister Simon Clarke told the BBC's Breakfast on Tuesday the "sacrifice" of those who died "will never be forgotten" and "we will look into every one of those cases to understand what has happened, I can give that total assurance".

Coronavirus was linked to a third of all deaths in England and Wales in the week up to 10 April, with the total number of care home deaths increasing almost sixfold in seven days, according to the Office for National Statistics.

There were 18,516 deaths provisionally registered in England and Wales that week - 7,996 deaths more than the five-year average and the highest weekly total since 2000.

Of the deaths registered in the week ending April 10, 6,213 mentioned Covid-19, 33.6 per cent of all deaths. This was up from 3,475 - 21.2 per cent of all deaths - a week earlier.