United Kingdom becomes the first country in Europe to exceed 50,000 deaths

The United Kingdom has become the first country in Europe to exceed 50,000 deaths of people who contracted Covid-19.

Official UK figures today showed 595 more deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 50,365.

There were 22,950 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to more than 1.2 million, according to government data.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacted to the grim milestone by saying that “every death is a tragedy.”

“We are sorry to all who have left, we are not out of the woods yet, everyone is still required to follow the lead and do the right thing to suppress the disease,” he said.

Source: UK government

The 595 deaths recorded today represent the highest daily figure since May 6, when there were 612, according to government figures.

The numbers include those who tested positive for the disease in the past 28 days.

But broader data compiled by the Office for National Statistics, which includes all deaths in which Covid-19 was mentioned as a factor on the death certificate, puts the number of victims at more than 60,000.

Italy reaches one million cases

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy has passed the symbolic 1 million mark, while nearly 43,000 people have died, according to official data.

The country, the first in Europe to be affected by the outbreak earlier this year, registered almost 33,000 new cases in the last 24 hours to reach 1,028,424 in total.

According to the ECDC, the 14-day cumulative number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents is 474 in the UK, 714 in Italy and 145 in Ireland. The corresponding death toll is 6.6 for the UK, 7.7 for Italy and 1.5 for Ireland.

– © AFP 2020