Another 204 people have died with the coronavirus in the UK, according to the the latest Department of Health figures.

The data came alongside an indication that hospital deaths from COVID-19 in England are down.

Public Health England (PHE) said that 75 more people had died in hospital, the lowest number since May 25, and the second lowest since March 25, just after lockdown began.

The overall number who’ve died in the UK after testing positive for the virus in all settings – including care homes – is now 40,465.

There were 218,187 tests carried out, according to the latest daily figures, with 1,557 positive.

Some 5,438,712 tests have now been done in total, with 284,868 positive.

The Department of Health death figures record the situation in all settings as of 5pm on Friday, with the test data accurate as of 9am today. Their figure – 204 – is the lowest Saturday total since lockdown began

Separate coronavirus figures released by health authorities in the different UK nations on Saturday recorded:

• England – 75 more deaths
• Scotland – 6 more deaths
• Northern Ireland – 1 more death
• Wales – 10 more deaths

The health authorities collate their numbers at different times throughout the day and so they may not tally up to the government’s overall daily total.

According to a regional breakdown of the COVID-19 transmission rate given by PHE on Friday, transmissions are believed to be growing in the North West and South West of England.

Their estimates, calculated in conjunction with Cambridge University’s MRC Biostatistics Unit, showed it was “probable” the R value was still below one in all of the regions of England.

According to Thomas Moore, Sky News’ science correspondent, the government will be keeping an anxious eye on the R number – the reproductive rate of the coronavirus – as it continues to ease the lockdown.

If the R value is one, then it means each infected person will on average pass coronavirus on to one other.

If it is above one, it means the number of COVID-19 cases will increase exponentially – while if it is below one, the disease will eventually peter out as not enough new people are being infected to sustain the outbreak.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has made keeping the R value below one a critical measure when considering whether to ease the UK’s lockdown.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has admitted transmission cases were particularly high in the two regions in question, saying local lockdowns could be introduced if there were flare-ups in the number of infections in certain areas.

But he told the Downing Street briefing that the government’s scientific advisory group (SAGE) still believed the R number was below one across the country.

“You’re right that the R is closer to one in the South West and in the North West, the advice from SAGE is that R is below one in all regions,” he said.

“However, we want to increasingly have an approach in tackling local lockdowns where we spot a flare-up.

“We’ve been doing this over the last few weeks, for instance there was a flare-up in Weston-super-Mare which we successfully got under control.”

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