A total of 104,866 people have been tested in the country, with 93,208 negative results.

The latest official figures came at a time when global coronavirus infection cases surpassed half a million.

The Department of Health said that it had changed the way it reported coronavirus deaths.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing mounting pressure to speed up the rollout of coronavirus tests for the public and frontline health workers as concern intensifies that a lack of diagnostics is impeding efforts to contain the epidemic.

The British government is racing to ramp up its response to the pandemic. The British National Health Service (NHS) is seeking thousands of extra staff among health workers recently retired, while a military field hospital with 4,000 beds is being installed in east London.