The latest coronavirus patients in England to die were aged between 22 and 100, with 44 of them – aged between 25 and 100 – having no known underlying health conditions, NHS England said.
Boris Johnson has come under mounting pressure to increase testing, especially for frontline NHS staff.
On Wednesday, 10,657 tests were carried out in England, the Department of Health said, while testing capacity for inpatient care in the country currently stands at 12,799 tests a day.
As the number of deaths reached nearly 3,000, a Downing Street spokesman said Mr Johnson is still showing coronavirus symptoms as he neared the end of his seven days of self-isolation following his positive test last Friday.
It is unclear whether he plans to leave the Downing Street flat where he has been staying and working remotely.
The spokesman said: “We’re following the guidelines from Public Health England (PHE) and from the chief medical officer which state that you need to self-isolate for a period of seven days, so no change in that.”
Number 10 said work with nine potential suppliers on developing an antibody test to show whether people have had the virus already is ongoing.
“We are working as quickly as we can on that and as soon as a test is approved then we will announce it publicly,” the spokesman said.
He added that the government had previously been offered tests that had not met the required levels of accuracy “and therefore would not have been safe to use”.
There were suggestions immunity certificates to identify people who have had coronavirus are being considered by the government.
“This is something which has been discussed in other countries,” the spokesman said.
“We have always said that we are watching closely what other countries are doing and we will always look to learn from ideas which could be helpful.”
SKY
