A further 717 people have died in the UK in the last 24 hours after testing positive for coronavirus – taking the total number of deaths reported over the Easter weekend to more than 3,500.

On Friday April 10 a record high of 980 deaths were reported after patients tested positive for the virus – more than the worst days in European countries such as Italy and Spain.

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However, on Saturday the number dropped down to 917 and on Sunday the figure dropped to 737.

Today the government has announced another decrease in deaths over a 24 hour period, after a Easter bank holiday weekend preceded by fears that people would socialise due to the sunny weather.

However, in recent weeks we have seen a delays in reporting of deaths over weekends, leading to fears the figure could rise dramatically tomorrow and Wednesday.

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There have been 4,342 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed today, meaning there have been a total of 88,621 confirmed cases in the UK.

A total of 290,720 people have been tested across the nation.

Another six people are confirmed to have died in the last 24 hours at Ipswich and Colchester hospitals after testing positive for the virus, bringing the total number of deaths at the two sites to over 100.

MORE: Six new coronavirus deaths at Ipswich and Colchester hospitals – with total now over 100