UK coronavirus death toll jumps to 422 as study says HALF of Brits could already be infected with bug

THE UK coronavirus death toll hit 422 as a study claimed up to HALF the population may have caught the killer bug.

Deaths jumped by 87 in just 24 hours on Tuesday – the biggest daily increase yet – with the youngest victim killed by the virus aged just 33.

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The number of cases across the UK climbed by 1,427 from 6,650 –  hitting 8,077 in just 24 hours.

London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust was one of the worst hit, recording 21 deaths in a day.

Meanwhile a study by researchers at the University of Oxford claimed up to 50 per cent of the UK population may have already contracted the coronavirus.

It suggests the disease may have already been prevalent in the UK up to two months before the first case was officially diagnosed.

Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology at Oxford, led the study and says the UK must now increase testing to discover the true stage of the pandemic.

“We need immediately to begin large-scale serological surveys – antibody testing – to assess what stage of the epidemic we are in now,’”

However, the research presents a very different view of the epidemic to the modelling at Imperial College London, which has strongly influenced government policy.

It comes at Health Secretary Matt Hancock today called for an army of 250,000 volunteers to join the coronavirus frontline.

LOCKDOWN

Mr Hancock also confirmed that a new hospital called the Nightingale Hospital with capacity for 4,000 people will open next week at the Excel Centre in east London after being set up with the help of the military.

Earlier, Mr Hancock said that home is now the “front line” in the fight against coronavirus.

Authorities have also ordered 3.5million tests that will determine if a patient has already recovered from coronavirus and is able to return to work.

Boris Johnson last night ordered a mass lockdown – closing all non-essential shops, banning gatherings of more than two people and insisting families stay behind closed doors.

All travel on roads, trains and buses was also banned unless it’s essential to get to work.

Brits were also ordered not to meet up with friends and to go out to buy food or to exercise just once a day.

Anyone who flouts the new crackdown will face fines of up to £1,000 or even arrest when cops are given emergency powers.

The draconian measures which will change every aspect of Brits’ lives included:

• All gatherings of more than two people in public were forbidden – meaning a ban on all social events, including weddings and baptisms
• Tens of thousands of non-essential shops were ordered to close
• Communal play and exercise areas inside parks will also be shut down, but not parks themselves
• Places of worship such as churches and mosques must also shut, except to host for funerals
• Travel on roads, trains and buses was also banned, unless it’s essential to get to work.

In a special broadcast on all main TV channels , the PM branded coronavirus  “the biggest threat this country has faced for decades”.

Online shopping and deliveries are continuing despite the lockdown of non-essential UK shops.

Millions of parents have now become unpaid teachers as the first week of UK school closures came into effect.

But some exhausted mums and dads failed to keep their excited offspring in check — leaving them in awe of the real classroom heroes.

All kids’ playgrounds across the UK will be shut int the lockdown, but parks will stay open.

There will be no road or rail closures, to allow key workers to get to and from work.

And Brits are still allowed to go to work if they cannot work at home, but only if they can stay two metres apart from each other during it.

That means construction sites won’t yet have to close, and delivery services can continue.

Shops that can stay open are supermarkets, pharmacies, vets, pet shops, hardware stores, retail shops in hospitals, newsagents, petrol stations, banks, post offices, laundrettes and undertakers.

All others must close, including clothes shops and electronics stores.