SOCIAL distancing measures are working - claimed a former World Health Organisation director - as UK deaths from coronavirus topped 2,000.

Professor Karol Sikora said the nationwide lockdown was on its way to halting the spread of the virus as estimates of infection rates were better than expected.

Professor Sikora said it was thought that each person infected with COVID-19 would infect another 2.6 people but research now showed that number had fallen to 0.62.

He said this meant that coronavirus now “has nowhere to go and will burn out”.

Meanwhile the number of people to have died after contracting the virus in the UK rose on Wednesday by 563 to 2,352.

More than 30,000 have now died in Europe and there are more than 800,000 confirmed cases worldwide.

On Wednesday, Italian officials announced a day-to-day drop in fatalities, as deaths fell from 812 on Monday to 727 on Tuesday. This raised hopes that the virus may be reaching its peak in Italy.

In the USA, White House predictions estimated that 100,000-240,000 Americans will die in the next few weeks, despite 75 per cent of Americans being ordered under lockdown.

During the UK government’s daily briefing, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said increasing testing capacity was top priority.

When asked by a BBC journalist if the Government’s response had been too slow, Mr Sharma said: “ We are now at 10,000 tests a day.”

“In terms of PPE (personal protective equipment), 390 million products have been distributed.”

He said the Government would do all they could to ensure PPE got to “the front line” to be used by NHS and other key workers. He also said that local authorities had received £12bn ($15bn) to distribute in grants to struggling local businesses.

And Mr Sharma also warned banks that it would be “completely unacceptable” if they were to “unfairly” refuse emergency loans to “good businesses”.

Also on Wednesday, it was announced that Defence Secretary Ben Wallace had become the fourth member of the British cabinet to have self-isolated after showing symptoms of coronavirus.

The latest major sporting casualty of the virus was the Wimbledon tennis championships. The annual event at the All England Club in London, due to take place between June 29 and July 12, was called off for the first time since the Second World War.

Europe’s football governing body UEFA also said that this season’s Champions League and Europa League competitions were postponed until further notice.