Coronavirus UK map: How many confirmed cases are there in your area?

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There have been nearly 300,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK and more than 45,000 people have died, government figures show.

These numbers only include people who have been tested, and the actual death toll is higher.

When looking at the overall death toll in the UK as a result of the pandemic, the number of deaths can be measured in three different ways.

Public Health England counts the deaths of people who have tested positive for coronavirus and has provided the government with a daily figure since the beginning of the outbreak.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes weekly updates using two other measures.

The first includes all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, even if the person had not been tested for the virus. This could be important because in the early months of the virus testing was not as widespread.

The latest figures using this measure suggest there had been more than 55,000 deaths by 10 July.

A third way of measuring the impact of the virus is to look at all deaths over and above the number we would usually expect for the time of year.

New ONS figures for this measure show the death toll rose to more than 64,000 for the period of the pandemic up to 10 July.

In recent weeks, though it remains the largest of the three figures, the third measure of the impact of coronavirus on the UK has actually been falling.

This is because the number of deaths from all causes - including coronavirus - registered in a single week has now stayed below the five-year average for four consecutive weeks.

If the trend continues below the average, then the total for this third measure will continue to fall.

The chart below shows the total number of deaths from all causes, with coronavirus deaths highlighted in red. They account for 4% of all the deaths registered in the week to 10 July compared with almost 40% at the height of the pandemic.

Decline in new cases stalls amid concern over hotspots

The new coronavirus, which causes the disease Covid-19, was first confirmed in the UK at the end of January, but the number of daily confirmed cases and related deaths only began to increase significantly by the second half of March.

Lockdown restrictions came into force across the UK at the end of that month and the number of new confirmed cases continued to rise until April, before starting to fall steadily throughout May and June.

However, that the downward trend now appears to have stalled.

On Tuesday, a further 445 cases were reported.

Find out how the pandemic has affected your area and how it compares with the national average:

Public Health England figures on coronavirus cases were updated on 2 July to include people tested in the wider community, as well as hospitals and healthcare workers, causing the numbers to increase sharply. Figures for the rest of the UK already included people tested in the wider population.

If you can't see the look-up click here.

Since some of the March lockdown restrictions were eased, a number of local outbreaks have been identified across the country. Health Secretary Matt Hancock says targeted action is being taken every week against such clusters of infections.

The Lancashire town of Blackburn with Darwen is one of the latest hotspots, where coronavirus infections have spiked. Extra restrictions have been brought in, including tighter limits on visitors from other households.

It follows the introduction of local lockdown measures in Leicester at the end of June and beginning of July, when schools and non-essential shops were closed again because of an increase in positive cases. Some of those measures will be eased from 24 July.

Official figures suggest the number of hotspots overall across the UK is declining.

Public Health England has also produced a coronavirus watch list of areas, based on an assessment of incidence rates, and other indicators such as trends in testing, local responses and plans, healthcare activity and mortality.

Deaths in the UK return to normal levels

The number of daily deaths announced by the government has continued to drop since a peak mid-April, though the downward trend has slowed recently.

On Tuesday, a further 110 deaths were reported. The death toll is often higher on a Tuesday due to a delay in reporting deaths at weekends.

The latest figures were published on the government's coronavirus dashboard - although a review is taking place into the way deaths from coronavirus are counted in England.

Public Health England (PHE) confirmed last week that reported deaths may have included people who tested positive months before they died. Other UK nations include only those who died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock told a Commons committee on Tuesday that the results of the review would be published "very, very shortly".

While PHE is continuing to make its figures available, the Department for Health and Social Care has stopped linking to the dashboard on social media posts or updating the figures on the department's own coronavirus webpage.

The UK has the highest official death toll in Europe and the third highest in the world, after the US and Brazil.

However, both countries have much larger populations than the UK and the number of people who have died per 100,000 people in the UK is currently higher than for either the US or Brazil.

The government has argued it is too soon to make definitive international comparisons but, as the impact of the first wave becomes clear in many countries, analysis is beginning to suggest the UK has been the hardest hit of the leading G7 nations.

The majority of the UK's deaths have been in England, with almost 41,000 so far - about 90% of the total for the UK.

No new deaths were reported in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

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What is the R number in the UK?

The "R number" is the average number of people an infected person will pass the disease on to.

If R is below one, then the number of people contracting the disease will fall; if it is above one, the number will grow.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, known as Sage, believes the R number across the whole of the UK is currently between 0.7 and 0.9.

The government says in England itself it is between 0.8 and 1.0. It is highest in London where it is between 0.8 and 1.1, and the South West where it is between 0.7 and 1.1.

The estimate for Scotland is between 0.5 and 0.9. In Northern Ireland it is between 0.5 and 1.0, while it is between 0.7 and 1.0 in Wales.

The government has said in the past that the R number is one of the most important factors in deciding when lockdown measures can be eased. But it now says that infection rates are too low to calculate R precisely in all areas of the UK.