The U.K.’s daily death toll was 980 in the 24 hours to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a televised briefing on the coronavirus pandemic.
The increase, the biggest daily rise in the outbreak, brings the total number of Britons to die from the disease to 8,958, Hancock said. There are 19,304 people being treated in hospital.
“Behind each one is a name, a loss and a family that will never be the same again,” Hancock said. “We all share a responsibility” to obey social distancing rules and stay at home to reduce the spread of the virus, he said.
