The British government announced on Sunday 596 additional hospital deaths from patients with the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths from the virus in the country, one of the most affected in Europe, to more than 16,000. In total, 16,060 people died of Covid-19 disease in hospital and 120,067 tested positive for the virus, 5,850 more than the previous day, the Ministry of Health announced.
Read also: LIVE - Coronavirus: more than 160,000 deaths worldwide
Figures released daily by UK health authorities include only hospital deaths of patients who test positive, a method criticized for not taking into account deaths in retirement or home homes and thus mitigating the real impact of the pandemic. The British government decided on Thursday to extend the containment it introduced on March 23 by at least three weeks and has no plans to break it yet.