UK reports the biggest daily jump in deaths due to coronavirus as 708 die in 24 hours daily increase in deaths, which includes cases from up to 5 pm on Friday, comes after the figure rose by 684 on Friday and 569 on Thursday.
Public Health England said of the extra 637 English deaths in hospitals, patients were aged between five years and 104 years old.
Before today, the youngest known victim was 13.
It brought the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 3,939, with 40 of those who had died in England – aged between 48 and 93 years old – having no known underlying health conditions.
The largest share of deaths occurred in the Midlands, with 212 deaths in the region, 127 in London and less than 100 in other regions. The least hit region was the South West.
Previously, the largest share of deaths was in London, which has also experienced the highest rates of infection.
Meanwhile, the number testing positive for COVID-19 in the UK as a whole has risen to 41,903, as of 9am on Saturday, after 183,190 have been tested.
Public Health Wales said 13 further deaths have been reported of people who had tested positive, taking the number of deaths in Wales to 154.
Northern Ireland’s Public Health Agency reported another eight deaths, bringing the country’s total to 56, with a total of 998 testing positive.
Analysis by the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC) found that the death rate among those admitted to intensive care with COVID-19 has topped 50%.
The centre looked at a sample of 2,249 coronavirus patients and found that out of the 690 patients whose care outcomes were known, 346 – 50.1% – had died, while 344 had been discharged.
The remaining patients, 1,559, were reported still to be in critical care.
As a comparison, just 22.4% of patients admitted to intensive care with viral pneumonia between 2017 and 2019 died of the disease.