UK coronavirus deaths almost double in 24-hours - with hundreds more cases confirmed

A number of the patients, who were over 60, had underlying health conditions, NHS England said.

The Government has also confirmed there have been hundreds of new cases of the coronavirus confirmed across the country.

As of 9am on Saturday, March 14, there have been 1,140 positive tests for coronavirus in the UK, up from 798 at the same time on Friday, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

It is the biggest increase in new cases that the country has seen in a 24-hour period so far.

Currently, 37,746 people have been tested in the UK for the virus, of which 36,606 were confirmed to be negative.

The government said on Friday it estimated the true number of cases to be around 5,000 to 10,000.

The new figures came after Spain declared a state of emergency with a lock down seeing businesses forced to close.

Travel operator Jet2 announced this morning that all flights to mainland Spain, the Balearics and the Canary Islands are now cancelled.

The latest advice from the NHS is that anyone with a new, continuous cough or a high temperature, should stay at home for the next seven days.It is expected that the Government may take the decision next week to ban all public gatherings in the UK. Many major sporting events have already been postponed in the UK.

The government officially moved from the ‘contain’ phase to the ‘delay’ phase on Thursday, March 12.