UK coronavirus death toll rises by 627 to 32,692

But government figure believed to underestimate deaths, with numbers from other official sources totalling least 40,000

A further 627 people have died of Covid-19 in the UK, bringing the official government death total to 32,692.

However, adding the most up-to-date figures from the Office for National Statistics, NHS England and authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland give a coronavirus death tally of 40,297.

The UK death toll is the second-highest in the world, after that of the US.

The latest figures from the Department of Health say 1,460,517 people have been tested, of whom 226,463 tested positive.

Worldwide, 287,158 people have died of Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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There have been 2,007,146 tests in all.

But again the daily testing figure fell short of Matt Hancock’s 100,000 daily testing target, with 85,293 tests on Monday.

University Hospital Southampton has named all 3,500 of its nurses as “nurse of the year” to mark International Nurses’ Day.

Deaths in care homes accounted for 40 per cent of coronavirus-related fatalities registered in England and Wales in the week to 1 May, with at least 10,535 of all deaths to date taking place outside hospitals, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Of the 6,035 Covid-19 deaths registered in the week ending 1 May, 2,423 (40 per cent) were in care homes, compared with 3,214 (53 per cent) in hospitals.

This weekly number of care home deaths is a slight dip from 2,794 in the previous seven days and is the first week-on-week decrease since 20 March 20.

ONS statistics also show between 21 March and 1 May there were 46,494 more deaths than the average for this period in the previous five years.