UK coronavirus death toll tops 20000

More than 20,000 people have now died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK.

The grim milestone came as the coronavirus lockdown continued into its fifth weekend and the Government faced calls for greater transparency over the scientific advice given to ministers on the outbreak.

The UK is the fifth country to pass 20,000 Covid-19 deaths, behind the US, Italy, Spain and France.

Last month, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance told MPs the hope was to keep the death toll to under 20,000 – an ambition that was later echoed by NHS England medical director Professor Stephen Powis, who said the UK would have “done very well in this epidemic” if deaths remained below that figure.

Asked whether it was hoped that deaths could potentially get below 20,000, he said: “That is the hope, that we can get it down to that. To put that into perspective, every year in seasonal flu the number of deaths is thought to be 8,000.

“If we can get numbers down to 20,000 and below, that’s a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get to with this outbreak.”

Source: Agencies


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