More than 26,000 people with confirmed coronavirus have died in hospitals, care homes and elsewhere in the UK, new figures show.

The government announced from Wednesday, figures would now include the total number of deaths in the UK across all locations, including hospitals, care homes and in the community, where a person had tested positive for Covid-19.

It brings the number of people to have died across the UK from the virus to 26,097, 17pc higher than previous data showed.

The latest figures have been revised retrospectively by PHE since the first coronavirus-related death to include additional data sources over the period of March 2 to April 28.

Of the additional 3,811 deaths recorded in the period, 70pc occurred outside hospital.

The remaining 30pc occurred in hospital and were identified through PHE’s laboratory system and not reported to NHS England.

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Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at PHE, said: “Every death from COVID-19 is a tragedy. Tracking the daily death count is vital to help us understand the impact of the disease.

“These more complete data will give us a fuller and more up to date picture of deaths in England and will inform the government’s approach as we continue to protect the public.”

She said weekly figures produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) include suspected cases where a test had not taken place and would therefore show more deaths.

On Tuesday, ONS’s weekly figures showed more than 4,300 care home residents across the country have died based on data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Helen Whately, minister for care, said: “I am determined that people living in care homes continue to receive the best care possible during these challenging times.

“Sadly, this pandemic has already taken many lives, and my heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones before their time.

Today’s data cannot bring them back but it can help us to better understand the impact this outbreak is having on those living in care homes so that we can continue to do everything in our power to protect them.”