FORECASTS predicting Atherstone and the rest of the UK are heading for coronavirus cases to peak saw new records broken this afternoon as the 6,000 barrier for deaths was passed.

The England-only tally of deaths rose by a record level of 758 which guarantees another grim milestone when Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland figures are added to the equation later today.

NHS England confirmed the latest fatalities were aged between 23 and 102 – with the youngest of those having no underlying health conditions.

Although the death toll had dropped for two days in a row after yesterday's number of victims fell from 621 to 439 – today's record number means more than 1,800 have died in the UK in the last three days of recorded figures.

The Department of Health has not yet released figures for all of Britain – so the death total will rise again later today.

Atherstone's main hospital– the George Eliot in Nuneaton – has tweeted the prediction of a peak of admissions in the "next few days" while Britain is coming to terms with Prime Minister Boris Johnson lying gravely-ill in the intensive care in St Thomas's hospital in central London.