UK is 1st European country to reach grim milestone of 60,000 Covid-19 deaths

The UK’s toll of deaths linked to the coronavirus pandemic has surpassed 60,000, according to new government data published on Thursday, making it the first country in Europe to reach such a high fatality count.

The British government’s figures concern Covid-related deaths that occur within 28 days of a positive test. 

Only the US, Brazil, India and Mexico have reported more deaths from the virus during the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.  

The UK on Thursday reported a further 14,879 new infections and 414 fatalities in the previous 24 hours, according to government figures, taking the country’s total death toll up to 60,113.  

The number of deaths within the last seven days was 3,085, down 5.3 percent on the previous seven days. The total number of coronavirus cases reported by the UK is 1,674,134.   

Other figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies, which include deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, put the total toll at 76,000.

Out of the 20 countries hardest-hit by the pandemic, the UK has the third-worst coronavirus mortality rate – in terms of deaths proportionate to confirmed cases – after Mexico and Iran, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.

On Wednesday, the UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19, after emergency authorization was granted by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

A rollout of the jab in England and Scotland is set to commence next week, but the speed of Britain’s approval of the vaccine drew criticism from both Europe and the US. 

“The UK did not do it as carefully [as America],” said leading US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, while German MEP Peter Liese described the UK’s swift approval as “problematic.”

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