Covid19 coronavirus: Global cases hit 3.1 million, death toll at 60,000 in US, 26,000 in UK

Four people play a makeshift ball game inside an apartment in London, as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Photo / AP

More than 26,000 people have died from coronavirus in the United Kingdom, National Health Service figures show - a jump of almost a fifth on previous reports.

And the number of cases in the United States has reached more than 1 million, with 60,000 deaths - the highest toll in the world.

Globally, there are now 3.1 million cases of coronavirus.

UK ministers announced a new set of British figures, which show that on top of 22,286 deaths in hospitals across the UK, there have been a further 3811 deaths in care homes and other settings.

However, these statistics only show confirmed cases, which tested positive.

This means they are likely to significantly underestimate the true impact of coronavirus on care homes.

Britain now has the world's third highest death toll in the pandemic. The toll has now hit 26,097, way ahead of the 21,678 announced yesterday.

UK has Europe's second-highest COVID-19 death toll, new figures show https://t.co/C1z4vL5orj pic.twitter.com/4kaWj84XV0

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2020

Under the new measurement, the UK has leapfrogged Spain and France in Europe, with only Italy ahead. The United States has the world's highest death toll.

"I want to make sure we bring as much transparency as possible to important information like this," Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said as he announced plans to publish deaths from coronavirus both inside and outside hospitals every day.

Until now, hospital deaths have been reported daily, while deaths in nursing homes and other settings were reported separately on a weekly basis.

The Government's decision to lay bare the full scale of the virus crisis each day was welcomed by many who have been having to wait for the Office of National Statistics to publish the number of deaths in care homes every week.

- additional reporting AP