UK tops Europe’s death-toll table, as deaths hit 29,427

Today the UK has over take Italy which had been the European country with the highest number of deaths – and become the second in the world (after the US).

In Italy 29,315 people to have lost their lives to coronavirus – compared to the UK’s 29,427 – it has slipped into third place.

The governemt has carried out over a million tests across the UK.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab says they are continuing to see evidence of the flattening of the peak of the virus.

But he says the next stage “won’t be easy” when we go on to the next phase of adjusting to a “new normal”.

Deputy chief scientific adviser Angela McLean tells the Downing Street briefing there has said a rise in figures from 4 May to 5 May is “something we would expect” due to the weekend.

But she says the seven-day rolling average shows that deaths have been falling steadily since the middle of April.

She notes that in the week starting 24 April deaths in care homes were still rising.

“There is a real issue that we need to get to grips with about what is happening in care homes,” she says.

More to follow…