Number of people in UK who have died after contracting coronavirus rises to 71

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

The number of patients diagnosed with coronavirus in the UK who have died now stands at 71. The Department of Health and Social Care announced the latest death toll which has jumped by 16 since Monday.

The government published the stats late on Tuesday afternoon a while after their daily update on how many people have been tested.

As of 9am, March 17 2020, a total of 50,442 people have been tested, with 1,950 confirmed positive. On Monday the number of deaths had jumped by 20 in 24 hours, bringing the total previous death toll to 55, which included the first death in Wales.

Rising figures over the past few days resulted in an emergency Cobra meeting on Monday afternoon to discuss escalated measures to tackle the outbreak.