Teen with ‘no known health problems’ dies as UK’s true coronavirus death toll jumps to 26,097
The 14-year-old was one of the victims to have died in hospitals announced by NHS England today
While it is much less likely for children to suffer severely from Covid-19 compared to adults, there have now been seven deaths of children and teenagers linked to the virus in England.
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Hide AdPeople of all ages with underlying health problems are believed to be at higher risk from the effects of the virus.
The youngest victim without any underlying health issues was 13-year-old Ismail Mohamed Abdulwahab, who died in March aged just 13.
The news comes as more than 26,000 people with confirmed coronavirus have died in hospitals, care homes and elsewhere in the UK, according to new figures.
It includes 765 deaths reported in the 24 hours to 5pm on Tuesday.
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Hide AdIt is the first time data on the number of deaths in care homes and the wider community has been included in the Government's daily updates.
The new method of reporting includes an additional 3,811 deaths since the start of the outbreak.
Of these, around 70% were outside hospital settings and around 30% were in hospital.
PHE medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle said: "Every death from Covid-19 is a tragedy.
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Hide Ad"Tracking the daily death count is vital to help us understand the impact of the disease.
"These more complete data will give us a fuller and more up-to-date picture of deaths in England and will inform the Government's approach as we continue to protect the public.
"It will remain the case that ONS (Office for National Statistics) data, which publishes every week with data from 11 days ago, includes suspected cases where a test has not taken place.
"ONS figures will therefore continue to include more deaths than our daily series."