By Staff, Agencies

England's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said Wednesday he believed the UK coronavirus death toll, which now stands at almost 13,000, was approaching its peak but warned of grim figures to follow in the next 24 hours.

"On the issue of the peak, our view is that it is probably reaching the peak overall and that is what the flattening shows," Professor Whitty said at a daily government crisis news briefing when asked about the number of people losing their life.

But any optimism was tinged with the prospect that high fatality numbers "will continue", Whitty said, confirming Britain as one of the worst affected countries by the global pandemic.

"I think it's important, and I am saying this because new data will come out presumably tomorrow. My expectation would be that the number of deaths may well go up."

Figures announced by the health ministry earlier Wednesday showed that 12,868 people in hospital have died from the coronavirus, a rise of 761 on the previous day.

That was slightly down from the 778 fatalities recorded Tuesday but noticeably lower than a high of 980 deaths declared last Friday.

The number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the United Kingdom has now reached 98,476.

Whitty's comments came ahead of a government decision, expected Thursday, to extend the lockdown and renew a stay-at-home order imposed three weeks ago to stem the spread of COVID-19.