UK jobless claims jump to highest since 1996 amid COVID-19 lockdown

UK unemployment soared to its highest level since 1996 in April, the first full month of the government's coronavirus lockdown, data published on Tuesday showed. 
The claimant count rose by 856,500 – the biggest ever month-on-month leap – to 2.097 million, a 69 percent increase, the Office for National Statistics said. 
Britain's unemployment rate could hit 10 percent in the April-June period, the country's budget forecasters have said, even with millions of workers shielded by the government's scheme to pay their wages while they are only temporarily laid off. 
As of Monday morning, 246,406 people across the country have tested positive for COVID-19, and the death toll stands at 34,796, said the Department of Health and Social Care.