Coronavirus: No new deaths recorded in Sheffield as England sees lowest daily increase since lockdown began

It means the city’s death toll remains at 258 as a further 59 people who tested positive for Covid-19 died in the country, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 25,750. This figure does not include deaths in care homes.

It is the lowest daily increase since the lockdown began on 23 March, but NHS England said the number of deaths may be larger as the system used to collate deaths was down for almost all of Sunday.

They said: “The Covid Patient Notification System did not operate between 0455 and 1500 on Sunday 24 May due to connectivity issues experienced by an external supplier.

“The number of deaths reported today by NHS England and NHS Improvement may therefore reflect this situation. The system is now fully operational and the reports of any deaths which were not able to be entered yesterday will be uploaded and reconciled.”

There is also usually a drop in the number of recorded deaths on weekends.

Elsewhere in South Yorkshire, one more patient who tested positive for coronavirus has died in Barnsley, taking the death toll there to 114. No new deaths have been recorded in the Doncaster area or Rotherham, where the number of hospital fatalities remain at 172 and 151 respectively.

The latest figures emerged ahead of Dominic Cummings’s public statement amid calls for the Prime Minister’s chief adviser to be sacked over allegations he breached the lockdown.