Another 384 people have died of coronavirus in the UK, bringing the total number to at least 33,998, the Department of Health has said.

The number includes deaths in hospitals as well as care homes and the wider community. The government began including the latter two categories in its daily count last month amid concerns care home deaths were being neglected.

Today’s daily jump includes the 256 deaths in UK hospitals that were reported earlier. 186 of those were recorded in England – one of the smallest daily rises in recent weeks.

London has seen the steepest decline in hospital cases this month, with figures suggesting coronavirus could be eradicated in the capital by June.

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The ‘R’ reproduction rate has fallen to 0.4 in London, with the number of new cases halving every 3.5 days, according to analysis by Cambridge University and Public Health England.

It was initially the hub of the UK’s outbreak and was considered to be weeks ahead of the rest of the country.

When the lockdown was imposed on March 23 it was being hit by around 200,000 new cases per day, but modelling suggests it could be free of fresh diagnoses by next month.

The team of researchers estimate around 1.8 million people in London (20%) have already had the disease, suggesting they could have a higher level of immunity, making it harder for the bug to spread.

However it’s a different story for the North East of England, which is recording around 4,000 infections every day.

The country is still making progress overall, as data shows the R value in England is 0.75, below the 1.0 set out by Boris Johnson as a requirement for easing lockdown rules.

Research suggests the rate in the North East and Yorkshire is 0.8, compared to 0.76 in the South West, 0.73 in the North West, 0.71 in the East of England and 0.68 in the Midlands

That being said, the UK still has the second highest recorded death toll in the world behind the US, with

Today’s figures come after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed that 12,526 care home residents in England and Wales had succumbed to the disease between March 2 and May 1. This made up 27.3% of the total deaths in retirement villages across the period, which saw 45,899 people die overall.

The most common pre-existing condition found among deaths involving coronavirus was Dementia and Alzheimer disease. The disease was a factor in 42.5% of all care home resident deaths with Covid-19.

London had the highest proportion of coronavirus deaths, accounting for 25.7% of all care home residents who died. The South West had the lowest, with 12.9% of care home resident deaths involving coronavirus.

NHS England has also released a breakdown of coronavirus deaths by pre-existing health conditions. It showed more than a quarter of people who died with Covid-19 in hospitals had diabetes.

People with dementia or lung problems are also among those most at risk of dying after contracting the novel disease.

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