UK coronavirus death toll rises 77 to 40,542

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said 40,542 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Saturday, up by 77 from 40,465 the day before.

The rise is the lowest daily total of newly reported deaths since March 23, according to PA analysis, but reporting of deaths is regularly lower on weekend and the Government figures do not include all deaths involving Covid-19 across the UK, which is thought to have passed 50,000.

The DHSC also said that as of 9am on Sunday there had been 5,581,073 tests overall, including 142,123 tests on Saturday, of which 1,326 were positive.

The department said a total of 286,194 people had tested positive.

The figure for the number of people tested has been "temporarily paused to ensure consistent reporting" across all methods of testing.