The number of deaths from coronavirus in the United Kingdom doubled between Friday and Saturday as the number of cases rose by the hundreds overnight.
Between Friday and Saturday, the U.K. suffered 10 coronavirus deaths, raising the nation’s death toll to 21, the Guardian reports. All of the 10 most recent victims had underlying health problems.
On Friday, the U.K. had 798 confirmed cases of the virus. By Saturday morning, this number was up to 1,140, per the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), according to the Guardian.
However, despite the climbing number of cases, the DHSC also reported that over 37,000 patients have tested negative for coronavirus.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) testing in the UK:
As of 9am on 14 March, a total of 37,746 have been tested:36,606 negative
1140 positiveAcross the UK, 21 patients who tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have sadly died. pic.twitter.com/YEo5QOEGzX
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) March 14, 2020
The rise in coronavirus cases in the U.K. triggered the White House to add Britain and Ireland to its travel restriction list on Saturday morning. (RELATED: White House Adds United Kingdom To Expanded Coronavirus Travel Restrictions)
President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that the U.S. would forbid entry of non-Americans from Europe, but did not extend the restriction to the U.K. or Ireland.
Now “certain foreign nationals who have been present in the U.K. or Ireland in the last 14 days” will be barred from entering America, according to Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who spoke at a press briefing on the new travel limitations.
Vice President Mike Pence clarified that U.S. citizens will not be affected by the new restrictions.
“Americans in the U.K. or Ireland can come home… [but] they will be funneled through specific airports and processed,” he said.