Four out of ten deaths during England and Wales' deadliest week were linked to coronavirus, heartbreaking new figures show - with men dying in greater numbers.
Between April 11 and 17, which included Easter Sunday, a record 22,351 people died - with 8,758 of them confirmed to have contracted Covid-19.
Two girls under 15 were among the dead, while almost 40% of coronavirus victims were aged 85 or over, today's data reveals. London, the North West and South East each lost more than 1,000 people, while there were 999 deaths in the West Midlands.
It is the largest weekly death toll since comparable records began in 1993, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this morning.