There were 207 new hospital deaths announced in England, 34 deaths reported in Scotland, 10 in Wales and five in Northern Ireland. The UK figures include those in all settings, including care homes. It comes as the Scottish government confirmed that more than 2,000 people have now died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus. A total of 2,007 patients have died in the country, according to the Health Protection Scotland figures released today, up from 1,973 yesterday.

Speaking on Thursday, Ms Sturgeon said 14,117 people have tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 188 from 13,929 the day before.

There are 71 people in intensive care with coronavirus or coronavirus symptoms, an increase of one on Wednesday, and 1,480 people are in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, a decrease of 54. Since March 5, 3,253 people who have tested positive for coronavirus have been able to leave hospital. Public Health Wales said a further 128 people had tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 11,834. Dr Robin Howe, from Public Health Wales, said: ‘We have been working hard to increase our testing capacity, and in the last week we have more than doubled our capacity to 5,330 tests a day in Wales. ‘We know there is more to do as demand increases, and we will continue to ramp up this capacity. ‘Although we appear to have passed the peak of new cases in Wales, Covid-19 is still circulating in every part of the country. ‘The single most important action we can all take in fighting the virus is to stay at home, and we thank each and every person across Wales for doing their bit to help slow the spread of the virus.'