The UK is set to surpass 10,000 coronavirus deaths. Here's what we know about the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.

REUTERS/Toby Melville

• April 12: The UK reported 917 new coronavirus deaths, taking the death toll to 9,875.
• Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is making "very good progress" in his recovery from the coronavirus.
• The prime minister is recovering in St Thomas' hospital after leaving intensive care on Friday, April 10.
• The UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is currently deputising for Johnson while he remains in hospital.
• The UK government will decide next week whether or not to extend its coronavirus lockdown by at least another three weeks.
• It is under growing pressure to provide more safety equipment to NHS staff. 
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April 12: The UK's coronavirus death toll is set to surpass 10,000 on Sunday, April 12.

A further 917 people died over 24 hours, the Department of Health & Social Care said on Saturday, taking the UK's total death toll to 9,875.

Sir Jeremy Farrar, who is advising the government on its response to the crisis, on Sunday warned that the UK could Europe's worst affected country by the COVID-19 virus.

"I do hope that we are coming close to the number of new infections reducing and, in a week or two, the number of people needing hospital reducing, and the number of deaths starting to come down," he told the BBC.

"But numbers in the UK have continued to go up. And yes, the UK is likely to be certainly one of the worst, if not the worst affected, country in Europe."

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is making "very good progress" in his recovery from the coronavirus after leaving the intensive care unit of London's St Thomas' hospital earlier this week, a Downing Street spokesperson said on Saturday, April 11.

Read on for the latest updates on how the virus is spreading across Britain.

For the latest global case total, death toll, and travel information, see Business Insider's live updates here.

Kieran Corcoran, Alison Millington, Rachel Hosie, Lindsay Dodgson, and Rob Price contributed reporting to this post.

The UK could end up being Europe's 'worst affected country'

Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust medical research charity, on Sunday, April 12 told the BBC's Andrew Marr that while he was hopeful the UK was close to passing the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, the country could end up being the worst affected European country.

"I do hope that we are coming close to the number of new infections reducing and, in a week or two, the number of people needing hospital reducing, and the number of deaths starting to come down.

"But numbers in the UK have continued to go up. And yes, the UK is likely to be certainly one of the worst, if not the worst affected, country in Europe," he told the BBC.

Farrar is one of several medical experts advising the UK government on how to fight the coronavirus. Here's the full story.

The UK reported 917 new deaths on Saturday, with the death toll set to surpass 10,000 today (April 12.)

A further 917 people died over 24 hours, the Department of Health & Social Care said on Saturday, April 11, taking the UK's total death toll to 9,875.

This means the UK's death toll will almost certainly surpass 10,000 today (April 12.)

 

Johnson is 'continuing his recovery which is at an early stage'

Boris Johnson is continuing to recover from the coronavirus and is in "very good spirits" in St Thomas' hospital, his spokesperson told journalists on Friday, April 10.

"The PM is back on a ward and continuing his recovery which is at an early stage. He continues to be in very good spirits," the spokesperson said.

They added that Johnson is "enormously grateful for the care he is receiving from NHS staff" and the prime minister was "waving his thanks" to the nurses and doctors he saw as he was  being moved from the hospital's intensive care unit to the his ward.

Here's what else Johnson's spokesperson said:

• The condition of Dominic Cummings, Johnson's chief adviser, is unchanged. He is self-isolating at home but "in contact with Number 10" after developing coronavirus symptoms a week-and-a-half ago.
• UK shops "are free to sell whatever they have in stock, providing it's legal," the PM's spokesperson said. They sought to clarify that Brits are allowed to buy whatever they want from supermarkets and shops after a police chief in Northamptonshire threatened to start checking for "unnecessary" items in shopping trolleys. 
• The UK government will announce a decision on whether the national lockdown will be extended by Thursday, April 16, next week. The government is set to extend the lockdown measures by at least another three weeks.
• The UK government is "working closely with universities to understand the financial risk and implications they may face at uncertain times." This follows reports that universities have warned of a financial black hole worth hundreds of millions pounds as a result of the COVID-19 virus. Johnson's spokesperson did not commit the government to giving universities further financial assistance.
• The UK foreign office (FCO) "has been working hard to bring British nationals back from countries around the world," Johnson's spokesperson said, adding it has "reached agreement with airlines to work together to bring people home and that work is ongoing." The FCO is accused of being too slow to bring home Brits stranded abroad after on Friday it said it had arranged for 12 flights to bring home over 3,000 people who are stuck in India.

 

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

See Also:

• What a coronavirus quarantine does to your body and brain, and how to cope
• Nearly 3,400 Chinese healthcare workers have gotten the coronavirus, and 13 have died
• 7 reasonable pieces of coronavirus stockpiling advice from doomsday preppers

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