Britain is now manufacturing hundreds of ventilators daily as well as receiving 300 from China, said the UK government minister Michael Gove, as the country recorded a further 708 deaths in the last 24 hours from COVID-19.

Strict social distancing measures remain in place in the UK with a total of 4,313 people now having died from the coronavirus. The toll includes a five-year-old child with underlying health problems.

Gove said that government was working with suppliers of ventilators and from this weekend onwards, hundreds are being made by manufacturers on a daily basis.

He said: "More are coming into production in the coming weeks subject to safety and regulatory approvals, as part of the prime minister's call to manufacturers to scale up production."

With China now apparently over the worst of the outbreak, it is now lending a hand to other countries – including the UK, which has now received 300 ventilators.

Gove continued: "We've been buying invasive ventilators from partners abroad, including Germany and Switzerland and today 300 new ventilators arrived from China – I'd like to thank the Chinese government."

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