LONDON : The United Kingdom death toll from the coronavirus rose by 684 to 3,605 as of 1600 GMT on April 2, up 23% on the previous day.
As of 9am 3 April, a total of 173,784 people have been tested of which 38,168 were positive. Stephen Powis, the national medical director of National Health Service England, said at a Downing Street briefing on Thursday that a high death rate would continue to be seen for "a few weeks yet".
Powis also said there was some early academic evidence that the transmission rate in the community may have fallen below 1. British government scientists say that the United Kingdom would be doing well if it kept the coronavirus death toll below 20,000.