UPDATE - UK’s death toll from coronavirus rises to 1,019

UPDATES WITH REMARKS BY BUSINESS SECRETARY, MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF NHS ENGLAND, ADDS MORE DETAILS

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - With 260 new deaths in the U.K. in the past 24 hours, the death toll in the country has reached 1,019, Business Secretary Alok Sharma announced Saturday.

“As of 5pm on 27 March, of those hospitalized in the UK, 1,019 have sadly died,” Sharma said at a news conference in London.

The Department of Health said as of 9am Saturday, a total of 120,776 new tests have been run and 103,687 people tested negative while 17,089 of the tests were positive.

Sharma said the government was "introducing a range of measures to boost the supply of personal protective equipment, such as face masks, to protect frontline NHS staff."

"We're removing administrative barriers to the production of hand sanitizer. By reducing the amount of red tape, new suppliers and businesses that produce ingredients for safe hand sanitizer will be able to bring their products to market in a matter of days," he said.

Sharma spoke alongside Medical Director of NHS England Stephen Powis.

"The number of deaths that arise out of this epidemic in the U.K., if it's less than 20,000 as [chief scientific adviser] Sir Patrick Vallance said that would be a good result -- although every death as I've said is absolutely a tragedy,” said Powis.

"We are not at [hospital] capacity yet within London but beds are being opened all the time to produce that extra surge capacity," he said, adding that the testing of NHS staff for coronavirus was also being increased.

Earlier in the day, Alister Jack, the secretary of state for Scotland, said he was in self-isolation after developing symptoms of coronavirus, though he has not been tested yet.

On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Health Secretary Matt Hancock both tested positive for the virus. Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty also said yesterday he was in self-isolation after showing symptoms.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 177 countries and territories, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows over 622,400 cases have been reported worldwide since last December, with the death toll above 28,790 and over 135,770 recoveries.