UK death toll due to coronavirus crosses over 5,000

The United Kingdom recorded over 5,000 deaths due to coronavirus on Monday. 

Also Read: PM Boris Johnson in 'good spirits' after being hospitalised due to COVID-19

"As of 5pm on April 5, of those hospitalized in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus 5,373 have died," the UK health ministry said.

According to Johns Hopkins coronavirus resource center's live tracker, 48,451 people have been infected with COVID-19 in the UK.

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Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been battling the virus at a hospital in London after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 symptoms ten days ago.

The New York-born British prime minister was hospitalized even as his spokesman said he is in "good spirits" but was "under observation".

PM Johnson is still "in charge" of the government even as his spokesman said the prime minister's discharge would be "entirely a matter for doctors rather than anyone else." '

In PM Johnson's absence, his de facto deputy, foreign secretary Dominic Raab, chaired the daily coronavirus meeting on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, housing minister Robert Jenrick told the BBC that PM Johnson has been working "phenomenally hard" during the crisis, adding that he would be finding it "very frustrating" to be ill.

Another minister, junior health minister Nadine Dorries said: "Many with COVID-19 are felled by fatigue/temperature and use isolation to sleep and recover, while adding," Boris has risked his health and worked every day on our behalf to lead the battle against this vile virus."