UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock, pictured leaving 10 Downing Street on Wednesday. Photo:
Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
Britain has recorded a further 1,041 COVID deaths, the highest daily total since last April, and the highest since the second wave of the pandemic began.A further 62,322 cases were recorded on Wednesday, the second consecutive day that more than 60,000 people have tested positive for the virus.The figure of 1,041 deaths stands in sharp contrast to countries outside of Europe, where governments have responded to the pandemic more robustly.
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Australia has recorded 909 deaths in total since the pandemic began; New Zealand has registered 25 deaths; and Taiwan has reported only seven deaths. The total UK death toll now stands at 77,346.The UK has been grappling with a new, rapidly-spreading variant of the virus that was first identified in Kent late last year.Yesterday, official estimates said that up to 1 in 50 in England – around 1 million people – currently have COVID.UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs on Wednesday that more than 30,000 people were currently being treated for COVID in UK hospitals.