Boris Johnson offers condolences to 100,000 families devastated by Covid deaths
But cases have reached their lowest level in six weeks.
Boris Johnson has expressed his sorrow after official figures showed that more than 100,000 people have now died with coronavirus in the UK, following another 1,631 deaths on Tuesday.
A further 20,089 cases of Covid-19 were also reported in the latest 24 hour period – the lowest in six weeks – as the daily infection rate continued to slow.
Offering his ‘deepest condolences’ at a Downing Street press conference, the Prime Minister said: ‘It’s hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic. The years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and for so many relatives, the missed chance even to say goodbye.’
The latest grim milestone was described by Labour as a ‘national tragedy’ ahead of Mr Johnson addressing the country this evening, while experts blamed the Government for its handling of the pandemic. Mr Johnson claimed the government did ‘everything it could’ to minimise the loss of life.
It comes after the ONS confirmed that its count of Covid-linked deaths had passed 100,000 on Tuesday morning. A separate count using data from birth certificates suggested the figure had actually been reached weeks ago, with the same measure standing at more than 115,000 today.
Official government figures now show that 100,162 people have died within 28 days of testing positive since the pandemic began – and some 3,689,746 infections have been confirmed.
Today is the second highest daily death toll recorded in the UK, after 1,820 people were confirmed dead on January 20. Wednesdays tend to have the highest tallies, meaning tomorrow’s figure could be higher still.
Mr Johnson added: ‘I think on this day I should just really repeat that I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and of course as I was Prime Minister I take full responsibility for everything that the Government has done.
‘What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything that we can, to minimise loss of life and to minimise suffering.’
He went on: ‘I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who’s lost a loved one: fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and the many grandparents who have been taken.
‘To all those who grieve, we make this pledge: that when we come through this crisis 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.’
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, the Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University, explained: ‘There will be a lot of attention given to deaths with Covid reaching 100,000, but this is based on the figures released each day, which only include people who both had a positive test and then died within 28 days.
‘The more accurate ONS data show that over 100,000 people in the UK had already died with Covid on their death certificate by January 7th, nearly 3 weeks ago.
‘This rose to 108,000 by January 15th, and the total now will be nearly 120,000.’
He continued: ‘Around 90% of these had Covid as the immediate cause of death, and so perhaps we can say that around 100,000 people in the UK have now died because of Covid.’
However, experts will be somewhat relieved that the infection rate has dropped to its lowest level since December 15, when 18,450 cases were recorded.
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said tonight: ‘This is a national tragedy and a terrible reminder of all that we have lost as a country.
‘We must never become numb to these numbers or treat them as just statistics. Every death is a loved one, a friend, a neighbour, a partner or a colleague. It is an empty chair at the dinner table.
‘To all those that are mourning, we must promise to learn the lessons of what went wrong and build a more resilient country. That day will come and we will get there together.
‘But for now we must remember those that we have lost and be vigilant in the national effort to stay at home, protect our NHS and vaccinate Britain.’
Meanwhile, reports continue to suggest that quarantine hotels are set to be brought in to stop new variants arriving from abroad.
Earlier today, NHS England said that a further 875 people who tested positive had died in the nation’s hospitals, bringing the total number of confirmed fatalities in the setting to 67,921.
Patients were aged between 33 and 101. All except 21, aged between 52 and 93, had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths were between December 17 and January 25, with the majority being on or after January 16.
There were 34 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
On vaccines, 281,725 jabs were administered yesterday, meaning the UK has now handed out 6,853,327 first doses and 472,446 second doses.
Wales reported a further 570 cases of coronavirus, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 189,152.
Public Health Wales also reported another eight deaths, bringing the toll since the start of the pandemic to 4,561.
In Scotland, 87 further deaths were confirmed today, according to latest figures.
There were also 1,049 new cases of people who had tested positive reported on Tuesday.
It brings the respective totals there to 174,002 cases and 5,796 deaths.
Northern Ireland saw a further 16 people die after testing positive, bringing the total to 1,763.
The Department of Health also confirmed another 550 positive cases of the virus on Tuesday, meaning 101,291 people are confirmed to have been infected since the pandemic began.
On the figure of 100,000 deaths, Dr Michael Head, Senior Research Fellow in Global Health, University of Southampton, said: ‘In just over one year, there are more than 2 million COVID-19 deaths .
‘Within that huge level of mortality, the UK has contributed more than 100,000 of those deaths with a death rate of 1,445 per million people, one of the worst in the world and higher than the USA or Brazil.
‘Public compliance with the guidance has mostly been good, so this is predominantly a failure of governance.’
Elsewhere, dozens of police officers were fined for getting haircuts at a station, while a Tory MP came under fire for getting a ‘leftover’ vaccine despite only being 40 years old.
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