UK takes over as Europe’s number one for Covid-19 deaths

The UK has leapfrogged Italy to lead the continent when it comes to confirmed deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

At the time of publication, the country had confirmed 29,427 deaths as a result of Covid-19, second globally to only the US, which has recorded 72,271 deaths.

On March 23, the date British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced strict lockdown measures, the death toll stood at 359.

Due to the manner in which suspected Covid-19 deaths were registered, the Financial Times newspaper estimated that the actual UK death toll from the coronavirus pandemic may be higher than 42,000.

Any comparison to other countries comes with the caveat that there are stark differences in the way deaths are recorded, age groups most affected by the virus, and levels of testing carried out. 

Nevertheless, doctors groups and government critics have highlighted several ways in which the government’s reaction to the crisis may have resulted in higher death tolls.

In comments reported by the UK’s Guardian newspaper, Dr Claudia Paoloni, the president of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association trade union, expressed her “extreme concern” over the milestone and called for accountability.

“There will have to be a full investigation of the handling of the Covid response in due course, a public inquiry to understand why we are experiencing such large numbers in comparison to the rest of Europe,” she said.

“It puts into question whether the government’s tactics at the start of the pandemic were sufficiently fast, and especially whether the lockdown should have happened earlier and whether we should have been better prepared with increased capacity for viral testing and contact tracing from the start. Both have proven inadequate.”

Late lockdown criticism

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who himself had a close call with the virus that saw him hospitalised in ICU, was criticised for not implementing the lockdown sooner.

At the start of the crisis, the British prime minister had suggested allowing the virus to pass through the population until a majority attained some level of immunity.

“Well it’s a very, very important question, and that’s where a lot of the debate has been and one of the theories is, that perhaps you could take it on the chin, take it all in one go and allow the disease, as it were, to move through the population, without taking as many draconian measures,” Johnson said.

Others have argued that the lack of adequate supplies to the British health service, the NHS, had made it harder for medical workers to treat those most in need and presented a danger to those on the frontline.

In some cases, hospitals have been criticised for allowing staff to work without masks, thereby increasing the risk of infection both to themselves, as well as patients.

Johnson is due to make an announcement on the future of the lockdown on Sunday, as the number of daily cases has dropped from its peak. The EU has however warned that the number of new cases in the UK remains constant.