UK announces 621 more coronavirus deaths, taking the total to 28,131 and inching closer to Europe's worst hit country Italy - as cases rise by another 4,806 and experts say recovered patients ARE showing signs a vaccine would work

• UK's death toll (28,131) bound to overtake Italy's (28,236) by next week and become second worst-hit  nation 
• Outbreak in the UK is two weeks behind Italy's, meaning deaths and infections are decreasing at a slower rate
• Comes as a testing row erupted today amid claims the Government has fiddled with its daily swabbing figures

The UK has today announced another 621 coronavirus deaths, taking Britain's official fatality toll to 28,131 - edging the country closer to becoming Europe's worst-hit nation.  

Officials also recorded another 4,806 cases, with more than 180,000 Britons having now been infected since the crisis hit the UK in February - but a lack of testing means potentially millions of cases have been missed. 

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick revealed the figures, which include fatalities in all settings, at tonight's Downing Street press briefing. But the Government has stopped providing a breakdown of how many deaths occurred in different settings, such as hospitals or care homes. 

However, at least 370 of the fatalities definitely occurred in hospitals because NHS England reveals new fatalities recorded by trusts every afternoon.

The daily tally also does not include deaths where no test was given to the victim despite coronavirus being suspected as the cause - meaning the true scale could be tens of thousands more, experts say.  

Scotland (44), Wales (44) and Northern Ireland (11) all include care home deaths in their daily updates - but their tallies do not necessarily line-up with the official count provided by the Department of Health because of how they are recorded and registered. 

Britain's death toll (28,131) is now bound to overtake Italy's (28,236) by next week and make the UK the second worst-hit country in the world, behind only the US (65,173). The outbreak in the UK is two weeks behind Italy's, meaning its daily death and infection jumps are decreasing at a slower rate. 

England's deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries raised hopes for a coronavirus cure tonight, telling the briefing that recovered patients appear to have COVID-19-specific antibodies for months. Antibodies are produced by the immune system in response to infection, and when someone possesses them they have immunity to the virus.  

Meanwhile, Mr Jenrick claimed  105,937 coronavirus tests had been carried out in the last day - a sharp drop from yesterday's supposed 122,000 amid claims the Government fiddled with its Friday figures to meet that target. 

The Government's national testing co-ordinator this morning insisted the goal had been met, but it has emerged that home test kits were being counted even if they hadn't been returned and analysed in a lab.  

Victims in England's hospitals were aged between 38 and 100 years old, and 25 of them had no known underlying health conditions. Wales and Scotland both recorded 44 more fatalities each in the last 24 hours, while Northern Ireland announced a further 11 victims had succumbed to the virus. Their deaths include those which occurred in care homes.  

Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick, revealed the figures, which include fatalities in all settings, in tonight's Downing Street press conference

In another tumultuous day of coronavirus developments:

• Government testing chief John Newton backed Matt Hancock by claiming 100,000-a-day goal was hit - despite including 40,000 coronavirus kits that were posted and not processed;
• A former ONS statistician estimates the real coronavirus death figure could be almost double government’s by comparing number of fatalities this year to five year average;
• Britons have flocked outdoors in their thousands for the return of lockdown sunshine as shoppers queue for Homebase after DIY chain reopened all 164 stores today and motorists line up for coffee outside Costa;
• Three major studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine have found common blod pressure pills do not make coronavirus worse - after doctors sounded the alarm about a possible link last month;
• One of Britain’s richest businessmen worth £141million has launched launches legal challenge to the coronavirus lockdown in bid to end ‘draconian’ quarantine that is ‘wrecking’ the economy;
• A bombshell Western intelligence dossier has claimed China lied about human-to-human transmission, 'disappeared' whistle-blowers and refused to help other countries prepare a vaccine for coronavirus;
• Hundreds of NHS coronavirus patients are to be treated with the blood plasma of virus survivors as part of trial into the promising therapy at St Thomas' hospital; 
• Spaniards have mobbed the streets as they were allowed out for the first time since March 15 - while hair salons opened in Austria as Europe starts to creep out of lockdown.

Speaking on the potential for a vaccine down the line, Dr Harries said: 'I think we are also starting to see with some very small pieces of evidence now from people in this country who have had COVID-19 and who have tested positive. 

'We have looked for their antibodies, and a very large percentage of patients who have otherwise been pretty well do actually have a pretty good response.

'How long that is going to last and whether it is going to provide an antibody response say for one season or two-three year ahead, we don't know.’

Ministers tonight unveiled a £76million package for domestic violence victims as they admitted the coronavirus lockdown is making it harder for people to seek help.

Mr Jenrick announced the funding as he took the daily Downing Street press briefing, saying the government would not ignore the 'reality' of what many vulnerable individuals face during the crisis.

He said victims of domestic abuse will get priority access to local housing, and money will be channelled to charities.

Declaring there would be £76million of 'new funding' for victims of domestic violence, Mr Jenrick said: 'For some in our society these measures involve sacrifices that none of us would wish anyone to bear.

'For victims of domestic abuse it means being trapped in a nightmare.

'The true evil of domestic abuse is that it leaves vulnerable people including children living in fear in the very place where they should feel most safe and secure: inside their own home.'

Mr Jenrick said the Government's Domestic Abuse Bill, which had its second reading in Parliament last week, would create 'the first ever legal definition of domestic abuse'.

He said that through the Bill, the Government would 'be ensuring that the victims of domestic violence get the priority need status that they need to access to local housing services much more easily'.

He added: 'This is a fully-funded commitment which will mean that no victim of domestic violence has to make the unbearable choice between staying somewhere that they know is unsafe or becoming homeless.'

He said the Government had already announced an extra £15million to strengthen its support, with an extra £16million going directly to refuge services.

'This additional support will ensure more safe spaces and accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse and their children, and the recruitment of additional councillors for victims of sexual violence.'

He added that the funding will also help frontline charities to offer virtual ways to assist those in need, including phone-based services.

Mr Jenrick said: 'We know that some refuges have had to reduce, or even to cancel the services that they would want to provide during the pandemic.

The number of people in Britain who have died because of Covid-19 so far could be as high as 45,000, data expert Jamie Jenkins has warned. Pictured: Mr Jenkins has been producing charts based on ONS data

'This funding will help them to meet the challenges posed in this national emergency, and to continue to help those that desperately need support.'

It comes after ministers finally caved in to mounting pressure this week to include COVID-19 fatalities in care homes in the daily updates, amid claims thousands of victims were being missed. 

Jamie Jenkins, a former analyst at the Office for National Statistics, said deaths in care homes could mean the total is closer to 45,000. 

Professor John Newton told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'All the tests are only counted once, and you can count tests when they go out or when they come back in, and whichever way you do it we still meet the target.' 

But experts told MailOnline the Government was being 'very sneaky' by including tests which had not yet been processed in a lab in its daily count.   

Britain's official daily death toll has not yet been released and the final number is expected to be much higher because of the new scheme to include deaths in all settings - not just hospitals. 

Mr Jenkins says the figure reflects the difference in the number of people who have died since the pandemic began in Britain, compared to the average number of deaths during the same period over the last five years. 

The former head health analyst at the ONS says figures from the UK's stats authority suggests around 90 per cent of these 'excess deaths' could be related to Covid-19.

Using this data, around 42,000 people in England and Wales and 3,000 in Scotland could have died in ways related to Covid-19 between the start of the pandemic and April 29, he says.

Mr Jenkins, who has been posting daily chart updates on his Twitter account, said his analysis takes into other factors, including a lower number of road deaths due to the reduced traffic while the country is in lockdown.

He says the difference in the excess death figures and the government's official Covid-19 death figures could be due explained by deaths in care homes and the community.

Initially government figures were solely those who died in hospital. But on Wednesday, the government added a further 4,000 deaths in care homes and the community.

Mr Jenkins said: 'Previously the figures included those who died in hospital who had a mention of Covid-19 on their death certificate.

'But if people were not being tested in care homes for example, and doctors were reluctant at first to mention it if they didn't know, those will not be marked in the figures. 

'Now the government is testing in care homes, the figures are likely to come more in line with the excess death figures.'

Mr Jenkins' analysis of the figures shows that on average there were 12,741 in the first week of the year over the last five years.

But figures were lower this year, at around 11,900 - something which Mr Jenkins says was down to a weaker strain of seasonal flu.

That trend continued until week 12 of the year, the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when this year's weekly deaths overtook the average.

The 2020 figure then continued to surge up until the last three weeks, where the number of weekly deaths was around 20,000 people - around double the five year average.

Mr Jenkins says the lower then average death rate at the start of the year, from the weaker form of seasonal flu, may have contributed to the higher death rate at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.

He said: 'We had a very bad flu season in 2015 and 2018 in the UK.

'Going into 2020 it seems, on average, the mortality rate was much lower for flu than the five year average.

'There was around 14,000 fewer deaths this year compared to the five year average prior to the coronavirus outbreak.

'Many of those 14,000 who survived the weaker flu were probably people who would have bee susceptible to Covid-19.' 

As reported previously reported by MailOnline, government figures were initially focused on those who died in hospital.

On Wednesday, the government added more than 3,800 deaths from those who had passed away from Covid-19 in care homes and the community

But the figures were at odds with ONS figures, which showed at least 4,996 deaths were recorded in care homes in the two weeks to 24 April.

It comes among a huge increase in testing across the UK. 

Last night, Health Secretary Matt Hancock declared at a press briefing that there had been 122,000 tests in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday, a huge increase from barely 10,000 at the beginning of April. 

Mr Hancock said last night that the next phase of dealing with Covid-19 - which will include more community testing and contact tracing - will allow the Government 'to reassert, as much as is safely possible, the liberty of us all'.

But it emerged around 40,000 of those tests counted had been posted out to homes and hospitals - and not actually processed.  

The government's testing coordinator Prof John Newton this morning told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the target had been met 'whichever way you count it', but warned people 'not to get too hung up on the targets.'

Earlier this week Boris Johnson declared that Britain is 'past the peak' of coronavirus - but urged the public to 'keep going' with lockdown to avoid a fresh outbreak.

So far there have been more than 177,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK, with the highest number of new cases coming on April 11, when there was 8719

Meanwhile, the government's testing co-ordinator insisted people should not get 'hung up on targets' today as he argued the goal for 100,000 checks a day had been met.

Prof John Newton brushed off a row over whether the numbers had been cooked, stressing the big picture was capacity had risen sharply and there would always be disputes when 'politicians set targets'.

The Health Secretary declared at the Downing Street press briefing last night that there had been 122,000 tests in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday, a huge increase from barely 10,000 at the beginning of April.

But it emerged around 40,000 of those counted had been posted out to homes and hospitals - and not actually processed.

Boris Johnson and other ministers had previously been stating that the government figures covered the number of tests 'carried out' per day.

The spat came as senior Tories urge the government to draw a line under wrangling about the target and focus on implementing a South Korea-style contact tracing system.

Professor Newton told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the target had been met 'whichever way you count it' - although he did not give figures for how many tests had actually been completed in the 24 hours.

Prof Newton said: 'We don't want to get too hung up on the targets... what matters is we have got substantial capacity.'

He said: 'It's a big number however you count it. All the tests are only counted once, and you can count tests when they go out, or when they come back in. Whichever way you do it we still beat the target.'

The pandemic is killing twice as many Britons in deprived areas as it is in wealthy regions, a report by the Office for National Statistics revealed yesterday 

Boroughs in London accounted for all of the top ten worst hit local authorities, the ONS report showed

Prof Newton also delivered what appeared to be a dig at Mr Hancock, saying that people should not get 'hung up' on targets.

'These are the sorts of discussions you get when politicians set targets. What we are focusing is on delivering what people need,' he said.

NHS Providers chief Chris Hopson told Sky News that there had been too much 'simple focus on a number for April 30' in government, saying it 'misses the point'.

'What you really need to be sure about is can everybody who needs a test actually get one?' he said.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said last night: 'Labour has repeatedly called for more testing, and increasing testing is an important milestone.

'But many would have expected the 100,000 promise to have been met by actually carrying out testing, not simply because 39,000 kits had been mailed out.

'The headline figure shouldn't count tests that hadn't been used, or indeed, might never be used as a completed test. '