Covid: UK’s pandemic death toll passes 150,000

More than 150,000 people in the United Kingdom have now died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus, according to government figures.

Only the US, Brazil, India, Russia, Mexico and Peru have reported more than the 150,057 fatalities recorded by UK health authorities since the start of the pandemic – although measures vary, with the number of death certificates in the UK that mention Covid-19 exceeding 174,000.

In a tweeted statement, Boris Johnson said said: "Coronavirus has taken a terrible toll on our country and today the number of deaths recorded has reached 150,000.

"Each and every one of those is a profound loss to the families, friends and communities affected and my thoughts and condolences are with them.

"Our way out of this pandemic is for everyone to get their booster or their first or second dose if they haven't yet."

The grim milestone was surpassed as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported a further 313 deaths – bringing the total this week to 1,271 and marking the third time in the past 10 days that more than 300 fatalities have been reported.

Prior to that, the number of deaths reported in a single day had not exceeded 300 since late last February, a month in which the Alpha variant drove a wave of more than 14,000 fatalities, which was less than half the number of lives claimed by the virus in January 2020.

Professor Andrew Hayward, who sits on the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme the UK “could have done better” on preventing loss of life.

He added: “ I think some of the deaths are even more tragic for the fact that many of them were avoidable if we had acted earlier in the first and second wave.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the death toll represented a "dark milestone for our country".

"Our thoughts are with all those who have lost someone, and we thank everyone supporting the vaccination effort," he said.

"We must ensure the public inquiry provides answers and that lessons are learned."

Jo Goodman, a co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign, said the official figure of 150,000 coronavirus deaths being recorded was "yet another indictment of the government's handling of the pandemic".

"We didn't need to be here and bereaved families and the rest of the country need answers as to how we have suffered one of the highest global death tolls," she said.

"This is ever more urgent as deaths from the Omicron variant continue to surge, with little apparently being done to address this. The public inquiry cannot begin its work soon enough."

A further 146,390 infections were also reported by the UKHSA on Saturday – the lowest in 11 days – bringing the total number of people who have tested positive since last Sunday to above 1.22 million, a rise of 10.6 per cent on the previous week, as the Omicron variant continues its rapid spread.

As of Thursday, there were 18,454 people in hospital with coronavirus – up from 14,126 a week before on New Year’s Eve. Some 868 of those in hospital on Thursday – or 4.7 per cent – required mechanical ventilation to help them breathe.

“What we are seeing from hospital admissions is that stays in hospital do appear to be on average shorter, which is good news,” Professor Mike Tildesley, of the University of Warwick, said on Saturday. “Symptoms appear to be a little bit milder, so this is what we are seeing consistently with the Omicron variant.”

Prof Tildesley, who sits on the Sage modelling subgroup Spi-M, suggested that infection rates in London appeared to be slowing down, but said that scientists would need two weeks to see if this continues, following the return of schools and many people to the workplace.

Suggesting that “most other parts of the country are about two to three weeks behind where London is in their epidemic profile”, he told Times Radio on Saturday: “Particularly concerning are the northeast and the northwest [of England]. If you look at hospital admissions in those two regions they are going up – also the Midlands, where I live, that’s also a little bit concerning, so it is a worry.”

His comments came in a week in which at least 24 NHS trusts have declared critical incidents, including one in Northamptonshire on Friday afternoon, with the latest figures showing a 59 per cent rise in staff absences in just seven days.

On Saturday, The Independent reported accusations that NHS leaders have been downplaying the impact of the crisis and putting hospitals under scrutiny for declaring critical incidents and postponing surgeries.

A leaked internal email from NHS England, interpreted by sources as a “thinly veiled threat”, urged hospitals to use the “correct terminology” and make NHS leaders aware when declaring their status.

Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat health spokesperson, said: “This is an insult to every health worker who has given their all, and every patient with cancelled appointments and delayed surgeries.

“We must trust health chiefs when they say a situation is critical. Every NHS patient and health worker can see for themselves that this is a health service struggling under the full weight of the Omicron wave. They need support, not suspicion.”