The number of people confirmed to have been hospitalised with coronavirus in City and Hackney has risen to 213 as of 9am on Tuesday, according to Public Health England (PHE).

The number of cases for the two districts, which share a health authority, rose by 24 overnight, and stood at 189 as of 9am Monday, up from 177 as of 9am Sunday.

Islington and Haringey both have 161 cases, and Camden has 143.

Because tests are only being carried out in hospitals, the true number of cases in all areas of the UK is likely far higher.

There were 3,009 newly confirmed cases, bringing the UK total to 25,150 cases – and 1,789 people have died after catching Covid-19.

In total, 134,946 people have been tested for coronavirus in the UK.

At yesterday’s press briefing, Cabinet Officer Minister Michael Gove was asked about personal protection equipment (PPE), and the mismatch between the government’s claim that there is “sufficient supply within the system”, and the concerns of many NHS staff as well as workers on the frontline like social workers and carers who do not feel protected against coronavirus by wearing what’s been supplied to them.

He claimed that hundreds of thousands of eye protectors, surgical masks and gloves were made available yesterday, and signposted any NHS workers to a 24-hour helpline they can call to request delivery of PPE equipment.

Jennifer Harries, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer said the UK has “always had sufficient stocks of PPE equipment, according to guidelines that are amongst the best in the world”.

“I stood here 10 days ago and said we had solved the PPE position, and 48 hours later our distribution issue popped back in again,” she said.

“The distribution element has been a little bit tricky at times and we have now taken a whole strand of the logistics, including with the army’s support actually, out so that we are developing a UK position on that stock and distribution flow,” she added.

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