The UK has recorded 737 new coronavirus-related hospital deaths, taking the total number to 10,612.

It comes after one of the government’s senior scientific advisers said the UK was likely to be among the worst-affected European countries.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said “today marks a sombre day”, but welcomed the efforts people had made to stay at home.

The number of reported deaths does not include deaths outside of hospitals.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson thanked healthcare workers for saving his life after being discharged from hospital.

Mr Hancock told the daily press briefing: “Today marks a sombre day in the impact of this disease as we join the list of countries who have seen more than 10,000 deaths related to coronavirus.

“The fact that over 10,000 people have now lost their lives to this invisible killer demonstrates just how serious this coronavirus is and why the national effort that everyone is engaged in is so important.”

The UK is the fifth country to surpass 10,000 deaths, joining the US, Spain, Italy and France.

Earlier, Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said the UK was likely to be “one of the worst, if not the worst affected country in Europe”.

In comparison, he said, the “remarkable” scale of testing in Germany had been key to keeping the number of hospital admissions for coronavirus lower than in the UK. “Undoubtedly there are lessons to learn from that,” he added.

Public Health England medical director Professor Yvonne Doyle said the number of people in hospital with coronavirus in London was stabilising, but it was increasing in north-west England, Yorkshire and north-east England.

Speaking about the loved ones of those who had died, Mr Hancock said: “Their grief is our grief and their stories will not be forgotten.”

He also congratulated the British public for “rising to this challenge” of staying at home.

“Your steadfast commitment to following these social distancing rules is making a difference,” he added.

Ministers are continuing to urge people to stay at home over the Easter weekend to curb the spread of the virus, despite warm and sunny weather across parts of the UK.

Today’s fall in the number of newly announced deaths of people with coronavirus is of little comfort as we pass the tragic milestone of 10,000.

And we know that the true death toll to date is higher: this figure doesn’t include people who have died with coronavirus but whose death has not yet been reported to the Department for Health.

But it could have been worse.

Up until last weekend, this figure was doubling every three and a half days. Had that continued, we might have seen more than 2,500 deaths announced today. That growth has not happened.

Today’s fall could be attributed to less reporting of deaths over a bank holiday. Even if we have not turned the corner, the number of deaths announced each day has held below 1,000 throughout the week.

That is still a terrifying figure. But the slowdown in the growth of new cases, of people hospitalised with coronavirus and in deaths all add to the evidence that the lockdown is working.

There are 2,295 spare critical care beds across Great Britain today, up by 150 from yesterday, Mr Hancock said.

He added that there was more spare capacity for critical care than there was when coronavirus “first hit our shores”.

A new NHS app to help trace those who might have contracted coronavirus was being developed, the health secretary said.

The government has faced criticism over access to personal protective equipment for NHS staff. Mr Hancock acknowledged there was “always more to be done”, but said there were now “record amounts in the system”.

He added that 121,000 gowns had been delivered around the country and more would be coming.

The increase of 737 deaths is lower than the daily total announced on Saturday, when the UK recorded 917 new coronavirus deaths.

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