Another 204 people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus.
The total number of people who have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community with the virus as risen to 40,465.
In the 24-hour period up to 9am on Saturday, 218,187 tests were carried out or dispatched with 1,557 positive results.
A total of 5,438,712 tests have now been carried out with 284,868 cases confirmed positive.
The Department of Health's death toll includes people who died in hospitals as well as in the wider community - but it does not include suspected cases of Covid-19, only confirmed ones.
The true death toll is thought to be more than 50,000 according to the latest analysis of official figures.
Bu the Prime Minister insisted he was "very proud" of the of the government’s response to coronavirus despite the grim milestone.
The government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance also said earlier this week that there could be 8,000 new cases of coronavirus a day in the UK and there was "relatively little room for manoeuvre" in easing the lockdown.
