UK coronavirus confirmed cases jumps to 9,529 from 8,077

UK coronavirus confirmed cases climb to 9,529 from 8,077 the prior day.

• Death toll in the UK is 463, from 422 the previous day.

Meanwhile, BBC News reported with a headline, ‘Many thousands of Covid-19 cases’ across NI, that the spread of coronavirus is a lot wider than statistics indicate.

On Tuesday, it was confirmed that seven people with the virus have died in Northern Ireland. Dr McBride said there will be more deaths to come.

Asked if the current lack of testing may be creating a false sense of security among the public, he said: “A test at a point in time is just that.

"It may indeed reinforce behaviours that we don’t wish to see.

“As we open up the Covid-19 centres, that does provide other opportunities for us to track the spread of the virus within the community, but we must prioritise those who are sick and critical care staff.”

Dr McBride said the health service would have the capacity to carry out 1,000 tests a day from next week.

In other news surfacing today, UK self-employed workers to wait until May end for emergency coronavirus cash, as was reported by The Sun, according to Reuters News.

Market implications

Europe and the UK are ay the epicentres of the pandemic of COVID-19. The US is closely behind, however. The US dollar is renowned to pick up a safe haven bid although its appeal may start to dwindle in the event of a growing crisis in the US. As for the pound, the UK current account deficit is the largest in the G10 FX space which remains as a long-standing problem for the pound and it is still not drastically undervalued vs the dollar, even at these low levels. It has seen a tremendous exodus in recent days as investors moved out of speculative longs, likely exaggerating the GBP fall. Bears will be looking for a break below the 1.14 handle at this juncture while cable trades below 1.2000.