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ANOTHER 25 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Oxfordshire, bringing the county’s total to 165, as the pandemic continues to claim lives in the UK and around the world.
Deaths in the county remained at 11 today, based on the most recent data from NHS England.
All were at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the John Radcliffe Hospital and has created additional intensive care space to deal with patients suffering from Covid-19.
As of 9am today 22,141 people had tested positive for the virus in the UK, but with about 7,000 tests a day it is hard to know how many people with mild symptoms have had or currently have the virus.
It was announced on Friday testing would be rolled out to NHS staff, starting with critical care doctors and nurses.
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As of 5pm on Sunday, of those hospitalised in the UK, 1,408 had died with Covid-19.
Early on in the coronavirus outbreak, Oxfordshire recorded the most cases in the country but has since been overtaken by areas such as London, Birmingham and Hampshire.
Hampshire for more than a week had the most cases of any county, but has now been passed in by Birmingham, which has 578 cases.
The first positive tests in Oxfordshire were confirmed on March 5 and were linked with foreign travel.
While the exact locations of people who have tested positive are not routinely shared by Public Health England, confirmation of several have been shared by universities and employers.
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This has included seven students at Oxford University, two at Oxford Brookes University, a Royal Mail worker and a man who works for gas company SGN at their Yarnton depot.
Globally the number of cases now stands at more than 740,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, which has been charting the pandemic since January via an online map.
While the coronavirus outbreak started in China, the United States has now passed the country for the most cases with more than 144,000.
The World Health Organisation has warned the US could become the new epicentre of the virus.
Italy has the most deaths, having passed 10,000, with Spain also recording 7,340, including another 812 today.
Despite Germany recording 63,929 cases it has relatively few deaths at 560. This is believed to be due to the number of tests being carried out, catching the more mild cases and thought to be a more accurate reflection of total infections in the country.
Professor Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London, speaking on BBC Radio Four’s Today show today said there were ‘early signs’ social distancing measures had started reducing the spread of the virus in the UK.
