UK passes milestone of 100,000 COVID deaths

More than 100,000 people have died with COVID-19 in the UK, after 1,631 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were recorded in the daily figures.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he took “full responsibility” for the government’s actions, saying: “We truly did everything we could.”

“I’m deeply sorry for every life lost,” he said.

A total of 100,162 deaths have been recorded in the UK, the first European nation to pass the landmark.

The UK is the fifth country to pass 100,000 deaths, coming after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico.

It follows a surge in cases last month, leaving the UK with one of the highest coronavirus death rates globally.

The number of cases in the UK has been falling in recent days, but the number of people in hospital remains high, as do the UK’s daily death figures.

Earlier, figures from the ONS, which are based on death certificates, showed there had been nearly 104,000 deaths since the pandemic began.

The government’s daily figures rely on positive tests and are slightly lower.

A further 20,089 coronavirus cases have also been recorded.

Mr Johnson told Tuesday’s Downing Street press conference that it was “hard to compute the sorrow contained in this grim statistic”.

“I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and of course as prime minister I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done,” he said.

“What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything we can, to minimise loss of life and minimise suffering for what has been a very, very difficult stage, and a very, very difficult crisis for our country, and we will continue to do that.”

He said he offered his “deepest condolences to everyone who’s lost a loved one”, saying: “Fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and the many grandparents who’ve been taken.”

Mr Johnson continued that “we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost and to honour the selfless heroism of all those on the front line who gave their lives to save others” once the country is through the pandemic.

He said the coronavirus infection rate remained “pretty forbiddingly high” to ease lockdown restrictions.

But he said “at a certain stage we will want to be getting things open”.

“What I will be doing in the course of the next few days and weeks is setting out in more detail, as soon as we can, when and how we want to get things open again.”