England records 10 more coronavirus deaths in preliminary toll

England today recorded 10 more coronavirus deaths in hospitals in the preliminary toll, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland announced no new victims. 

Government officials have yet to confirm the final daily figure, which takes into account lab-confirmed fatalities in all settings. The early death count for England only includes victims in NHS hospitals, not care homes. Health bosses revealed only one of the victims was under the age of 60.

For comparison, Department of Health chiefs yesterday confirmed 18 more coronavirus deaths and just five were recorded last Monday. But the rate has doubled in a week.

Twenty-one patients are now succumbing to the life-threatening infection every day, on average. The figure — an indicator as to whether the outbreak is growing — stood at just 11 last weekend. But patients can take weeks to die from the illness, meaning any spike in deaths now represents a spike in cases around three weeks ago.

It comes as Sir Patrick Vallance today warned the UK faces 50,000 new daily cases of coronavirus by the middle of October and more than 200 deaths everyday by November, if the spread of Covid-19 is not brought under control as Boris Johnson prepares a fresh crackdown on freedoms.

The Chief Scientific Adviser gave the stark warning as Professor Chris Whitty admitted the UK has ‘in a bad sense literally turned a corner’ with rising rates of infection and that the nation needs to view the fight against the virus as a ‘six month problem’ before science eventually can ‘ride to our rescue’.

In other coronavirus developments today:

• Sir Graham Brady accused Boris Johnson of ‘ruling by decree’ during the coronavirus crisis as Tory MPs demanded any move to reimpose lockdown is put to a vote in the House of Commons;
• Fears of a second lockdown have shaken market confidence, with the FTSE 100 suffering its worst plunge since June this morning, slumping 3.56 per cent to 5,812;
• Covid infection rates in 20 London boroughs are higher than areas of England already hit by restrictions as Sadiq Khan met council leaders to demand a new lockdown and rush hour traffic dropped five per cent; 
• Transport Secretary Grant Shapps defended the way ministers have imposed measures without votes in the Commons as he said the ‘need for speed’ was required to tackle the threat posed by the virus; 
• Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Newport and Blaenau Gwent will be placed under a local lockdown following an increase of coronavirus cases, the Welsh Government has announced;
• Professor Paul Hunter, an expert in health protection at the University of East Anglia, suggested a ‘circuit break’ new lockdown would only halt the Covid-19 surge temporarily;
• Downing Street said the delayed NHS Covid-19 app being launched in England and Wales on Thursday will not provide the automatic contact-tracing ability that was first promised.