Death toll rises in Herefordshire

At least 16 people have died with coronavirus in Herefordshire.

There are also 113 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the county.

The total number of deaths are those recorded by Wye Valley NHS Trust.

While the total figure of deaths across the UK was 12,107 as of April 15 while 93,873 confirmed infections have been reported.

The government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said on Monday that the number of deaths would continue to rise this week, followed by a plateau for a period of two to three weeks.

He said: “You’d expect that (the plateau) to go on for two or three weeks but I can’t be absolutely sure on the time of that.”

Sir Vallance said after the plateau the number of daily deaths should begin to decrease.

Separately, actual coronavirus-related deaths could be 15% higher than daily government figures suggest, said an Office of National Statistics report.

Nick Stripe, head of health analysis and life events at the ONS said: “The latest comparable data for deaths involving Covid-19 with a date of death up to 3 April, show there were 6,235 deaths in England and Wales. When looking at data for England, this is 15% higher than the NHS numbers as they include all mentions of Covid-19 on the death certificate, including suspected Covid-19, as well as deaths in the community.”