UK’s Covid-19 death toll tops 40,000, worst in Europe

LONDON: The United Kingdom’s COVID-19 death toll now exceeds 40,000, by far the worst yet reported in Europe, raising more questions about Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales brought the United Kingdom’s official death toll to 38,289 as of May 3, according to a media tally of death registrations that also includes Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Since then, at least 2,251 people have died from COVID-19 in English hospitals, according to the latest daily data, bringing the true death toll as of Tuesday to just over 40,000.

While different ways of counting make comparisons with other countries difficult, the figure confirmed Britain was among those hit worst by a pandemic that has killed more than 285,000 people worldwide.

The data came a day after Johnson set out a gradual plan to get Britain back to work, including advice on wearing home-made face coverings - though his attempt to lift the coronavirus lockdown prompted confusion.

The leaders of the devolved nations - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - said that advice given by Johnson only applied to England. They told people to stay at home still.Such a high UK death toll increases the pressure on Johnson. Opposition parties say he was too slow to impose a lockdown, too slow to introduce mass testing and too slow to get enough protective equipment to hospitals.

Unlike the daily death toll announced by the government, Tuesday’s ONS figures include suspected deaths from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.In March, Britain’s chief scientific adviser said keeping deaths below 20,000 would be a “good outcome”. In April, media reported that the government’s worst case scenario was a death toll of 50,000.