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A further 708 people in the UK have died after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the total to 4,313. 

It is the single sharpest increase in deaths since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, up from an increase of 684 announced on Friday. 

It took 20 days for the total number of deaths to surpass 400. It has taken a further 11 days to pass 4,000.

The figure, released on Saturday afternoon by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), covers the period from 5pm on Thursday to 5pm on Friday. 

As of 9am on Saturday, 41,903 people in the UK had tested positive for the virus, out of 183,190 tests carried out.

Today’s figures from the Department of Health and Social Care show that the number of new people tested daily in the UK for coronavirus has slipped back below 10,000.

A total of 9,406 new people were reported as being tested in the 24 hours to 9am April 4.

For the previous two days, the equivalent figure was above 10,000.

The total number of people in the UK tested since the outbreak began is now 183,190.

This is the equivalent of around 275 people in every 100,000, or 0.3% of the population.