A shopper wears a face mask as he queues at a supermarket due to the coronavirus related lockdown in London
The United Kingdom on Friday recorded 847 coronavirus deaths in hospitals, raising the overall COVID-19 death toll to 14,576 in the country. The increase is slightly down on the 861 released on Thursday. Last week, a daily high reached 980 deaths. Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases has reached 108,692 in Britain while 93,772 are active cases.
However, the new deaths are recorded only from the hospitals and not in nursing homes or other settings within the community. Therefore, the figure, which is released daily by the government, has come under increasing scrutiny.
The country had surpassed the China COVID-19 cases and also the fatality too is higher than the Asian country.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics has indicated the figure could be around 15% higher, though others think it will be more amid growing reports of a sharp increase in coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes.
Meanwhile, the British government announced on Thursday that a nationwide lockdown imposed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus will remain in place for at least three more weeks. The health officials earlier had said the UK’s coronavirus outbreak, which is one of Europe’s worst, is nearing its peak.
The lockdown has been in place since March 23. Schools, pubs, restaurants and most shops are closed, and most people are allowed to leave home only for essential errands or exercise.
Britain’s government has been criticized for its belated response to the pandemic, including limited testing and delays in getting protective equipment to health care workers.
The government insists it is rectifying those mistakes. It has vowed to conduct 100,000 tests a day by the end of April — a more than five-fold increase on current rates.
(With inputs from AP)
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