The peak of the UK’s coronavirus outbreak could come as soon as a week today. A new paper from Imperial College London estimates that if Britain follows the same pattern as China, the highest number of deaths recorded in a single day will come on Sunday, April 5.
The research - which studies the effects of social distancing measures - predicts that at the height of Covid-19, the UK will see 260 people die in a single day.
This is significantly lower than the 1,300 maximum daily deaths predicted in Italy, where the outbreak is expected to peak on March 27.
It means that in total, 5,700 lives would be lost in Britain as a result of the pandemic - amounting to fewer annual deaths than seasonal flu.