More than 200 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, the Department of Health has said.

In total, 206 people had tested positive for Covid-19 as of 7am on Saturday, a rise of 42 from the 164 cases which had been confirmed by Friday evening.

The Department of Health said more than 21,000 people had been tested for the virus.

The updated figures come as US authorities prepare to respond to a coronavirus-hit cruise ship carrying British passengers off the Californian coast, after 21 people on board tested positive for the illness.

US Vice-President Mike Pence said on Friday that the Grand Princess, carrying more than 3,500 people on board, including 140 Britons, had been directed to a non-commercial port for testing.

Meanwhile in the UK, the public has been told to prepare itself in case “social distancing” policies are needed to help contain the spread of the virus.

On Friday, it was confirmed that a man in his early 80s had become the second person to die in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus.

The man, who had underlying health conditions, died on Thursday while being treated at Milton Keynes University Hospital.

A family member, speaking to the Guardian, has since claimed the hospital was “too slow” to detect the man’s symptoms and move him into isolation away from other at-risk patients.

On Thursday evening another patient, reported to be a woman in her 70s, became the first person in the UK to die after being diagnosed with Covid-19 while at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.

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A second confirmed case of Covid-19 has been recorded in Cornwall.

Steve Brown, Cornwall Council’s Deputy Director of Public Health, said on Saturday: “The case is a resident directly linked to the initial diagnosis in Cornwall, who had also travelled to Northern Italy.”

Public Health England (PHE) is contacting people who have had close contact with a second confirmed coronavirus case in Nottingham.

Dr Fu-Meng Khaw, Centre Director, Public Health England East Midlands, said the Nottingham resident was a family member of the city’s first case, who recently returned from South Korea.

PHE is also contacting people who had close contact with a Leicestershire resident who is one of the latest confirmed cases of Covid-19.

In Scotland, five more people have been diagnosed with coronavirus, with a total of 16 now confirmed.

Two new cases, confirmed on Saturday by the Scottish Government, have been reported in Lanarkshire, with an increase of one case in Lothian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and Grampian.

So far 45 people on board the Grand Princess have been tested for coronavirus, with 19 of those diagnosed with the virus being crew members.

On board, Jackie Bissell, from Dartford in Kent, said passengers had been given little information on what will happen next.

Meanwhile, Lisa Egan, whose 90-year-old father is on board, called for the ship to be evacuated.

Another Princess Cruise ship carrying Britons, the Diamond Princess, was quarantined for two weeks in Yokohama, Japan, last month because of the virus.

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A British tourist who had been on board the ship became the first UK citizen to die after testing positive for the illness.

Japanese authorities have admitted their handling of the Diamond Princess’s quarantine was flawed.

More than a quarter of the 2,600 people on board – around 700 passengers – eventually became infected.

A spokesman for Princess Cruises, which owns the Grand Princess, said it was working with US authorities and awaiting a plan for the ship’s future positioning.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee on Monday as officials prepare to accelerate work on the delay phase of the Government’s plan to tackle the virus.

Sports governing bodies and broadcasters have also been called to a Government meeting on Monday to discuss how to handle the outbreak’s possible impact on the sporting calendar.

Meanwhile, PHE has said people may need to help older relatives and neighbours obtain food supplies if social distancing measures, such as not going to cinemas, pubs or sporting events, are put in place.