Another 813 people have died with coronavirus in UK hospitals, bringing the total to more than 20,000, the Department of Health has announced.

At the government’s daily briefing, the home secretary described the figure as a “tragic and terrible milestone”.

Last month, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said keeping deaths below 20,000 would be a “good outcome”.

Meanwhile, the PM will return to work in Downing Street on Monday morning.

It is just over two weeks since Prime Minister Boris Johnson was released from St Thomas’ hospital in London, where he was treated in intensive care for coronavirus. He has been recuperating at his country retreat, Chequers.

The ‘good outcome’ that never was

According to the latest official figures, a total of 20,319 patients have died in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.

The first virus-related death was announced in the UK 51 days ago.

At the Downing Street briefing, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “As the deaths caused by this terrible virus pass another tragic and terrible milestone, the entire nation is grieving.”

She warned that “we are not out of the woods yet”, and said people must continue to follow social distancing measures to curb the spread of the virus.

The government’s figures do not account for deaths that have happened in care homes, at home, in hospices or elsewhere in the community.

These are measured separately by the Office for National Statistics, based on death certificates, and a weekly figure is announced each Tuesday.

Last week that figure indicated that there were at least 1,662 deaths, up to 10 April, that were above the hospital-based number.