LONDON, April 8. /TASS/. The number of coronavirus deaths has surged by 938 to 7,097 in the United Kingdom in the past 24 hours, while the confirmed cases jumped by nearly 5,500 to pass 60,000, the Department for Health and Social Care said on Wednesday.
That was the biggest daily increase in deaths so far, compared to Tuesday when 786 deaths caused by coronavirus were reported in the country.
"232,708 people have been tested, of whom 60,773 tested positive," the department said in the latest update. "As of 5pm on 7 April, of those hospitalized in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 7,097 have died."
The UK has not reached the peak of coronavirus yet. The government predicts the peak to be within seven to ten days. Imperial College London said in the newly released data that the UK will top the list of five countries worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, accounting for more than 5,000 deaths on April 13 through 19 and leaving Spain, Italy, the United States and France behind.
Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK's chief scientific adviser said that the number of deaths was expected to start lowering in the country within two or three weeks.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 1,400,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 82,000 deaths have been reported. That said, over 300,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.