LONDON - The UK's Covid-19
death toll neared 50,000 on Tuesday, confirming its place as one
of the worst hit countries in the world just as Prime Minister
Boris Johnson tries to ease the stringent novel coronavirus
outbreak.
The toll now stands at 49,646, including death certificate
data for England and Wales released on Tuesday up to May 22,
previously published figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland,
and recent hospital deaths in England.
Such a large death toll has prompted criticism of Johnson,
who opposition parties say was too slow to impose a lockdown,
too slow to protect the elderly in nursing homes and too slow to
build a test and trace system.
Johnson's government says that while it may have made some
mistakes it is grappling with the biggest public health crisis
since the 1918 influenza outbreak and that it has ensured the
health service was not overwhelmed.
Still, the grim death toll surpasses even some projections
by the government's own scientific advisers.
In March, Britain's chief scientific adviser said keeping
deaths below 20,000 would be a "good outcome". In April, Reuters
reported the government's worst-case scenario was 50,000 deaths.
Unlike the daily death toll published by the government,
Tuesday's death certificate figures include suspected cases and
confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by
the novel coronavirus.
Epidemiologists say excess mortality - deaths from all
causes that exceed the five-year average for the time of year -
is the best way of gauging deaths from a disease outbreak
because it is internationally comparable.
Some 62,000 more people than usual have died in the United
Kingdom during this year's coronavirus pandemic, according to
the latest available data, an expert from the Office for
National Statistics said on Tuesday.