UK coronavirus death toll rises by 468 to 34,466

The UK's coronavirus death toll has risen by a further 468 fatalities in a 24 hour period, the government has confirmed.

The Department of Health and Social Care said its figures showed 34,466 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Friday - up from 33,998 the day before.

The government added that, in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Saturday, 136,486 tests were carried out or dispatched for 78,537 people, with 3,451 newly confirmed cases.

Since the UK's outbreak began a total of 1,742,028 people have been tested - with 240,161 confirmed infections.

As the nationwide death toll neared 35,000, scores of people were urged to leave Hyde Park where protests were being carried out in opposition to the lockdown measures introduced by the government.

The protestors attending the event included Piers Corbyn, the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The meteorologist and long avowed climate change denier described the pandemic as a "pack of lies used to brainwash you and keep you in order" before being arrested.

Scotland Yard said that as of 2pm on Saturday, six people were arrested in the Hyde Park area.

UPDATE (20.05.20) A previous version of this article's headline reported that the UK coronavirus death toll has risen by 468 to 36,466​. As made clear in the body of the article, the UK death toll had in fact risen to 34,466 at the time of publication of this article.