Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, said at the government's daily briefing that another 649 people in the U.K. have died in all settings, including hospitals and care homes, after testing positive for the coronavirus.
That takes the U.K.'s official death toll to 30,076, only behind the United States, which has more than 71,000 coronavirus-related deaths.
The British government is expected to extend the lockdown restrictions on
Thursday when they come up for review, partly because deaths remain elevated despite falling when measured over a seven-day period.
Jenrick also said that just under 70,000 tests for the coronavirus were conducted on Tuesday. That's short of the 100,000 target the government had set for the end of April, which it managed to achieve twice.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson set a new target for testing capacity of 200,000 tests a day by the end of May. (AP) NSA