Coronavirus: 917 new coronavirus deaths as UK told to stay home

The UK has recorded 917 new coronavirus deaths, taking the total number of people who have died in hospital with the virus to 9,875.

For the second day in a row, more than 900 deaths were recorded in hospitals.

The latest figures come as the prime minister has told friends he owes his life to the NHS staff who treated him in hospital for Covid-19.

Boris Johnson is expected to spend the coming weeks resting and recovering and will not rush his return to work.

Meanwhile the home secretary said she was "sorry if people feel there have been failings" in NHS protective kit.

Her comments came after some NHS workers said they still did not have the personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to treat coronavirus patients.

Saturday's death toll, accurate as of 17:00 BST on Friday, are slightly down on the previous day's 980 deaths.

However, spikes or dips may in part reflect bottlenecks in the reporting system, rather than real changes in the trend and these figures do not include those who died in care homes or the community.

The growth in the total number of new deaths has stalled in the last four days.

In some other countries that implemented lockdown, the numbers of reported deaths stopped growing about three weeks into lockdown.

But it is too soon to know for sure whether we have reached that point.

There have been reporting lags at weekends and it is possible that a bank holiday weekend will include deaths that go unreported until next week.

The government is urging people to stay at home over Easter to curb the spread of the virus, despite warm and sunny weather across parts of the UK.

At the Downing Street briefing, NHS England medical director Stephen Powis said: "It is a bank holiday weekend, it is a time of year when typically we would be celebrating or getting together with relatives and close friends.

"But I'm afraid this year it has to be, for all of us, a stay-at-home Easter."

Police have issued more than 1,000 fines to people not following social distancing measures, according to early figures released at the government briefing.

Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs Council, said most people spoken to by officers had understood the rules but a "small minority" had refused to comply.

Also at the briefing, Ms Patel announced £2m to support domestic abuse services as she said anyone suffering during the lockdown would still be able to get support from the police.

For those people, Ms Patel said: "Home is not the safe haven that it should be."

Anyone in immediate danger should call 999 and press 55 on a mobile if they are unable to talk, she said.

Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, 53, was a married father-of-two and a consultant urologist. He died with coronavirus on Wednesday.

The home secretary also warned that while total crime had fallen during the lockdown, criminals were adapting.

Fraudsters had already exploited coronavirus with losses to victims exceeding £1.8 million and perpetrators of "sickening online child abuse" were seeking to exploit young people and children being indoors and online.

Meanwhile, the Queen has told the nation "coronavirus will not overcome us" and said "we need Easter as much as ever" in her traditional message marking the celebration.

Earlier, Health Secretary Matt Hancock defended his warning that some NHS workers were using more PPE than needed.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had said it was "insulting to imply frontline staff are wasting PPE".

Mr Hancock told the BBC he was not "impugning anyone who works for the NHS", saying, "They do an amazing job."

"But what I am reiterating, stressing, is the importance to use the right amount of PPE," he added.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said health workers treating coronavirus patients still did not have access to enough protective equipment.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Boris Johnson is continuing to make "very good progress" as he is treated for coronavirus in hospital, Downing Street said.

Mr Johnson, 55, had three nights in intensive care before returning to a ward on Thursday.

No 10 said he was receiving daily updates and pregnancy scans from his fiancee, Carrie Symonds, and had been passing the time with films and sudoku.

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