Despite his very public advice on preventing the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has succumbed to the infection and is himself another confirmed case. So too is his health secretary, Matt Hancock, while chief medical officer Chris Whitty is also in self-isolation having shown symptoms. These startling developments emerged yesterday as part of the fast-moving and ever-changing Covid-19 pandemic. Here are some of the latest updates.

• The UK death toll in the UK rose sharply, from 578 to 759, the nation’s biggest day-on-day increase to date.

• In the North-East and North Yorkshire, Public Health England this morning said the following cases have been confirmed: North Yorkshire 69, York 17, Newcastle 121, Stockton 24, Darlingon 11, North Tyneside 36, Redcar and Cleveland 13, County Durham 56, South Tyneside 19, Sunderland 55, Gateshead 23, Middlesbrough 17 and Hartlepool 6.

• The daily number of new confirmed cases also reached a new high at 2,921 recorded in the 24 hours to 9am on Friday, compared with 2,129 in the previous 24 hours.

• The Department of Health said 14,543 people in the UK had now tested positive for Covid-19, up from 11,658 at the same point on Thursday.

• The number of people tested in the UK rose by 8,911 to 113,777, of whom 99,234 had tested negative.

• The increases were announced on the fourth day of a nationwide lockdown. Worldwide, more than 551,800 people have been infected and nearly 24,900 have died, according to the Reuters news agency.

• Political leaders in the North-East have written to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warning the regional bus network is in danger of collapse without urgent Government financial assistance.

• Mass graves could be introduced if local death services become inundated with bodies during the coronavirus outbreak, experts have warned.

• Workers from businesses across the North-East have expressed confusion about whether their workplaces should be open amid concerns that companies are not following rules on social distancing during the coronavirus crisis.

• Police have already issued fines to people breaching coronavirus lockdown rules, less than 24 hours after new laws came into force.