Britain's coronavirus death toll increased to 2,921 after 569 more patients died in just 24 hours - the highest day-on-day increase since the outbreak began.
Scotland and Northern Ireland have reported additional cases since the Department of Health's daily update, taking the total to 2,977.
The latest deaths include a 22-year-old and a person aged 100, with almost 34,000 people now testing positive for Covid-19 in the UK.
England has suffered the most deaths (2,698), followed by Scotland (126), Wales (117) and Northern Ireland (36).
It took 19 days for the number of deaths in the UK to pass 300. It has taken further 10 days to reach just under 3,000.
For the first time, the number of new people tested per day in the UK for coronavirus has passed 10,000.
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A further 10,215 new people were reported as being tested in the 24 hours to 9am April 2.
The total number of people in the UK tested since the outbreak began is now 163,194.
This is the equivalent of 245 people in every 100,000.
The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK stands at 33,718, as of 9am on April 2.
A week ago, on March 26, the total was 11,658.
The Department of Health said: "As of 9am on 2 April 2020, 163,194 people have been tested, of which 33,718 were confirmed positive.
"As of 5pm on 1 April 2020, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 2,921 have died."
The previous daily total, reported on Wednesday afternoon, was 2,352 after a rise of 563.
It comes amid growing anger over a lack of testing and a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS staff working long and gruelling shifts on the frontline of the Covid-19 fight.
Of the latest deaths, NHS England said the total number of confirmed reported deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus in hospitals in England is 2,698, up by 561.
The patients were aged between 22 and 100 years old, with 44 of those 561, who were aged between 25 and 100 years old, having no known underlying health condition.
A total of 126 patients have now died in Scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, the Scottish Government has confirmed, up by 50 from 76 on Wednesday.
Official statistics showed that 2,602 people had tested positive for the virus, up 292 on the previous day.
At a briefing at St Andrew's House in Edinburgh, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that 162 people were in intensive care with Covid-19.
A total of 18,128 coronavirus tests have been carried out in Scotland.
The First Minister described coronavirus as a "cruel virus" as people are not allowed to spend time with loved ones in hospital.
She said that 40 deaths had not been reported due to "family liaison" issues, but it would not be correct to say they had happened in the past 24 hours.
A new reporting system would be put in place, meaning the daily figure of confirmed deaths will not rely solely on health boards, but will also include data from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) death registration process.
As of next week, NRS will also begin to report on deaths where Covid-19 is mentioned on the death certificate.
The First Minister said the Scottish Government was trying to be as "transparent as possible".
Scotland's chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, said compliance with lockdown measures could see them lifted in three months.
The number of people who have died in Wales after contracting coronavirus is 117, a rise of 19, health officials said.
Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the Covid-19 outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said: "284 new cases have tested positive for Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,121, although the true number of cases is likely to be higher.
"Nineteen further deaths have been reported to us of people who had tested positive for Covid-19, taking the number of deaths in Wales to 117.
"We offer our condolences to families and friends affected, and we ask those reporting on the situation to respect patient confidentiality."
The number of people who have died in Northern Ireland after contracting the virus has risen by six to 36, health officials said.
Testing has resulted in 85 new positive cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the region to 774.
Community Pharmacy NI, the representative body of community pharmacy teams in Northern Ireland, said around a third of staff across the region are now self-isolating due to Covid-19 symptoms as it called for urgent access to coronavirus testing kits and PPE so that staff who test negative can return to work and help deal with huge demand in local pharmacies.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson is still showing coronavirus symptoms, Downing Street has confirmed.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "The PM continues to have mild symptoms, but he does still have symptoms."
Asked if Mr Johnson would be leaving self-isolation on Friday, the spokesman said: "We're following the guidelines from Public Health England and from the chief medical officer which state that you need to self-isolate for a period of seven days, so no change in that."
Britons will take part in another "clap for our carers" celebration on Thursday night to pay tribute to key workers, including NHS, emergency services and food distribution staff.
Downing Street has said that 2,800 NHS staff have now been tested for the coronavirus at drive-in testing facilities.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said that in addition a "significant number" had been tested at NHS and Public Health England laboratories.
The spokesman said that Health Secretary Matt Hancock will be setting out plans for a significant increase in the testing programme.
The spokesman said that in all, 10,412 coronavirus tests were carried out across the UK in NHS and Public Health England laboratories on Tuesday.
"We acknowledge that more needs to be done in relation to testing. We need to be testing more people and we need to be making progress very quickly," he said.
The spokesman said that work was ongoing with nine potential suppliers on developing an antibody test which would show whether people have had the virus, but he said it was essential they were accurate.
"We are working as quickly as we can on that and as soon as a test is approved then we will announce it publicly," he said.
He said the Government had previously been offered tests which had not met the required levels of accuracy "and therefore would not have been safe to use".
Mr Johnson's spokesman said that a new testing laboratory in Milton Keynes had started taking samples from NHS staff.
Almost 100 universities, companies and research institutes from across the UK had lent machines to the laboratory which was set up in just a week.
Two other large laboratories will be opened next week in Cheshire and Glasgow covering the North of England and Scotland.
The spokesman said the NHS had also developed a new specification for the swabs used to carry out the tests which had been validated and shared with potential manufacturers.
"We think that provides us with a way forward to complete hundreds of thousands of tests," he said.
The Government is still facing calls to make sure frontline staff have enough personal protective equipment (PPE) and wards have enough ventilators as the UK nears the worst of its outbreak.
It is confident personal protective equipment (PPE) is now reaching the front line, with more than 45 million units being delivered to NHS trusts and providers on Wednesday, Number 10 said.
The PM's spokesman said: "We have now delivered 397 million products of PPE over the past two weeks, including masks, alcohol hand rub and aprons.
"Yesterday, over 45.5 million units of PPE were delivered to 280 trusts and providers, including five million aprons, one million of the FFP3 face masks, six million surgical masks and 21 million gloves.
"We do recognise that there have been some distribution problems while we have been dealing with the surge in demand.
"We are confident that the supply is now reaching the front line. Where that is not the case there is a 24-hour NHS-run hotline where NHS and social care workers can call to request the PPE that they need."
Downing Street said PPE had been provided to over 26,000 care homes - including home care and hospices - and it was working "around the clock" to give the social care sector the equipment and support it needs.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said the NHS had sufficient ventilators to meet the demand it is currently facing from the increase in coronavirus patients.
"We continue to have capacity to meet the increased demands which the NHS is experiencing. We have capacity both in terms of ventilators and intensive care," he said.
Ms Sturgeon said there had been "significant" steps taken to get PPE to health workers in Scotland.
Health Protection Scotland (HPS) would also be issuing new guidance on how PPE is distributed, she added.
Ms Sturgeon was also clear on what testing "can and cannot achieve".
Current tests, she said, could identify cases of Covid-19, but would be unable to detect the virus in the incubation period or if someone has previously had the virus.
The Scottish and UK governments are currently working on a more thorough antibody test.
The family of a nurse who died after treating a coronavirus patient said the Government has questions to answer about the lack of PPE and testing on NHS staff.
Thomas Harvey, a father-of-seven, died "gasping for air" at the family home in Hackney, east London on Sunday, having collapsed in the bathroom.
His son, also named Thomas, described having to punch a hole in the door as he and other family members made desperate attempts to get to the 57-year-old, who had spent 20 years as a nurse at Goodmayes Hospital in Ilford.
He said efforts to provide protective equipment to healthcare staff and to roll out Covid-19 testing were much too slow.
Mr Harvey, 24, said: "Why has it taken so long? Why have we had to lose my dad, and similar situations, for you (the Government) to take action?
"It is frustrating to think that a situation like this could have been prevented with the correct care from the Government."
He said the grandfather-of-three had been given only "gloves and a flimsy apron" to protect himself from infection, and had isolated himself at home after beginning to show symptoms of the virus a few weeks ago.
Despite paramedics being called out when his condition worsened around a week before his death, he was not admitted to hospital or tested for the virus, a decision the family were surprised by.
The Government has scaled up its public health messaging with a series of striking adverts warning the public "people will die" if they don't stay home during the coronavirus lockdown.
Full-page adverts featuring the new messaging - including the slogan "Stay home. Protect the NHS. Save lives" - have been placed in most national newspapers, while social media users have also been targeted with the advertising across a variety of platforms.
The new campaign takes a far stronger tone than any produced by the Government before, using striking red and yellow colouring and featuring dramatic images of NHS staff in face masks and other protective wear.
In one example, promoted on Facebook, users are told: "If you go out, you can spread it. People will die."
