LONDON (UK) – The coronavirus death toll in the United Kingdom rose by 27% in a day and a senior cabinet minister described this rise as shocking and disturbing.
So far, 1,789 people have died from coronavirus as of 1600 GMT on Monday, which is an increase of 381 from Sunday and this is the largest rise in absolute terms yet.
“The increase in the number of deaths is deeply shocking, disturbing (and) moving. It depends on the actions of all of us. We can delay that peak, we can flatten the curve through our own particular actions.”
– Micheal Gove, Cabinet Office Minister
Britain had, at first, taken a rather gradual approach to contain the virus as compared to other European countries.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed stringent controls after projections revealed that a quarter of a million people could die. Johnson has become the first leader of a major power to test positive for coronavirus.
“We’re not out of the woods, we’re very much in the woods, and it’s really important that we keep complying with those instructions. But as you can see, the number of infections is not rising as rapidly as it was. So, green shoots, but only green shoots, and we must not be complacent and we must not take our foot off the pedal.”
– Stephen Powis, director of the National Health Service
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.