Coronavirus news live: UK death toll at 41,361 and Matt Hancock to scrap ‘failing’ Public Health England

Travellers wearing face masks arrive from Paris to St Pancras Station in London after quarantine restrictions were imposed at 4am on Saturday morning (Picture: Victoria Jones/PA)

A further three people who tested positive for coronavirus in the last 28 days have died, bringing the UK’s total death toll to 41,361.

The latest figures released by the Government on Saturday also show that the number of new cases recorded in the last 24 hours has risen by 1,012 to 317,379.

Meanwhile, Health Secretary Matt Hancock is set to scrap Public Health England (PHE) and replace it with a new pandemic response agency.

The news comes after growing frustration over how the health body has handled the coronavirus crisis, including a faulty methodology for counting fatalities which inflated the national death toll.

However, some have accused ministers of trying to ‘deflect responsibility’ of their own ‘shambolic management’.

Hancock is set to announce a merger of PHE’s pandemic response work with NHS test and trace into a new organisation called the National Institute for Health Protection, the Telegraph reports.

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Here, we bring you live updates on the latest news, developments, and guidance on the Covid-19 pandemic.