According to data presented by the foreign ministry, Britain's COVID-19 death toll has risen by 539 to 30,615.

The figures, collated by government agency Public Health England and equivalents in Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, comprise deaths in all settings following positive coronavirus tests and cover the period up to 1600 GMT on Wednesday.

Another dataset published by Britain's Office for National Statistics published on Tuesday showed a higher toll. This included deaths where coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate and the data is only published weekly.

Reopening of Britain's lockdown represents a huge risk and could be stalled by an increase in infection rates, foreign minister Dominic Raab has said, warning that if social distancing lapsed, the virus would spread exponentially.