671 more deaths were confirmed on Sunday
The UK now has the worst per-capita Covid-19 death rate in the world, newly released data has confirmed.
Over the past week, an average of 935 people have died each day from Covid-19 - the equivalent of 16 in every million dying every day.
Almost a year since the first Covid death in Britain, the death rate is higher now than it was at the height of the first wave back in April 2020.
The Czech Republic had held the top spot in the death rate league table since January 11, but data released on Sunday saw the UK pip them to first place despite the current lockdown measures. World beating indeed.
Covid-19 numbers tend to take a dip at the weekend due to a lag in reporting new cases, but they are expected to rise again when Monday's data is revealed.
https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1350493950335922178
The UK also has the highest death toll in Europe, with only the US, Brazil, India and Mexico recording more deaths across the world. It is worth bearing in mind that all four of those countries have significantly higher populations than plague island.
More than 5 per cent of the United Kingdom's population has been infected since the pandemic first hit the UK, with over 3.4 million confirmed infections.
Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer, has also warned that hospitalisations are expected to increase in the short term.
"I’m afraid in the next week we do anticipate the number of people in the NHS and the number of deaths will continue to rise as the effects of what everyone has done continue to feed through,” Professor Whitty said last Friday.
"The peak of deaths I fear is in the future, the peak of hospitalisations in some parts of the country may be around now and beginning to come off the very, very top.
"Because people are sticking so well to the guidelines we do think the peaks are coming over the next week to 10 days for most places in terms of new people into hospital."
