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The UK has recorded seven more deaths of people who had tested positive for coronavirus in 24 hours – the first single digit total since March 13.
The figures cover the period up to 5pm on Sunday, but the true number of deaths may be significantly different. Here’s a quick primer on what all the different numbers mean and how to understand them.
It brings the total number of people who have died after a positive test in the UK to 45,759 as of 5pm on Sunday. That may, however, include people who have died of unrelated illnesses after recovering from Covid-19 as the government was forced to admit earlier this month – although not yet enough to balance out the underreporting in other areas. Here’s a quick primer on how to make sense of the multiple updates that are published each day.
Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have been more than 56,100 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate – likely to paint a truer picture, though several days out of date.
The government also said in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Monday, there had been a further 685 lab-confirmed cases. Overall, a total of 300,111 cases have been confirmed.
Globally, however, the picture is far grimmer. The number of cases of coronavirus around the world has doubled in the last six weeks alone, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said the pandemic “continues to accelerate”.
Almost 16m cases have been reported to WHO.
In a separate development, the first case of Covid-19 in a UK pet was confirmed after a cat in England is believed to have caught the virus from its owners.
The UK’s chief veterinary officer revealed on the government’s website that the infection was confirmed following tests at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) laboratory in Weybridge on Wednesday.
The cat and its owners have since made a full recovery and there was no transmission to other animals or people in the household. The symptoms detected in the cat were “nasal discharge and shortness of breath”.
Although it represents the first confirmed case of an animal infection with the coronavirus strain in the UK, there is no evidence to suggest that the animal was involved in transmission of the disease to its owners, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.