UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the latest death tally registered weekly on Tuesday, showing that the death figures in England and Wales are 40 percent higher than the government data in the same period.

The ONS report, which records all deaths including those in care homes and hospitals, accounted for 13,121 deaths from the new coronavirus by April 10 in England and Wales. But the government's daily toll, which includes only hospital deaths, was 9,288 by that date.

The health minister Matt Hancock sought to downplay the ONS report. "I've seen this 40 percent figure, I asked the team about it before coming here, and that is not an accurate representation of those figures," Hancock said during the government's daily coronavirus news conference at Downing Street.

"(There are) important differences between how we measure deaths in hospitals – which we can get that data daily, and so it's incredibly important for tracking as soon as possible what's happening in terms of the impact of this disease – with the ONS data, which is measured in a different way."

The ONS figures recorded all coronavirus-linked deaths based on the death certificate, meaning deaths in hospitals, care homes, hospices, and at home regardless of COVID-19 diagnosis are included.

The report recorded a total of 18,516 people died in England and Wales in the week up to April 10, among these a third is linked to the coronavirus. This makes it UK's deadliest week since January 2000.

Meanwhile, deaths of other causes have also gone up, reporting almost 8,000 "excess deaths," meaning deaths that were not expected for this period. This suggests that the lockdown could be impacting people's access to healthcare services for conditions unrelated to the coronavirus.

(With input from agencies)