UK’s Covid-19 death toll passes 60,000

It has taken three weeks to rise from 50,000 deaths

A Covid-19 test is carried out at a screening site at Manchester Airport in northern England. AFP

The UK hit the grim milestone of 60,000 Covid-19 deaths on Thursday.

Official daily data showed that 414 new deaths were reported in Europe’s worst-affected country, taking the total since the start of the pandemic to 60,113.

The number of deaths in the past seven days was 3,085, down 5 per cent from the previous week.

England was in a second lockdown for the past three weeks, which ended on Wednesday.

It is the fifth country to officially record more than 60,000 coronavirus-related deaths and comes only three weeks after reaching 50,000.

The UK joins the US (274,000), Brazil (174,000), India (138,000) and Mexico (107,000) in reporting more than 60,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The UK’s actual death toll is widely considered to be much higher because it only counts those who tested positive for the virus and does not include those who died of Covid-19-related symptoms after 28 days.

Meanwhile, a government minister said the UK won the race to approve a coronavirus vaccine because it was a "better country", threatening to amplify a row over Britain claiming credit for the shot.

“We’ve got the very best people in this country and we’ve obviously got the best medical regulator, much better than the French have, much better than the Belgians have, much better than the Americans have,” Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told LBC Radio on Thursday.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all because we’re a much better country than every single one of them.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office backed Mr Williamson, saying the minister was right to be proud of the UK.

The comments came after Business Secretary Alok Sharma was criticised by Germany’s ambassador in London for claiming that the decision to approve the shot, which was developed in the US and Germany, showed “the UK led humanity’s charge against this disease”.

The dispute inflames tension just as London needs friends in the EU while talks on a post-Brexit free trade agreement reach an ultimatum.

France, which was at the centre of Mr Williamson’s boast, is threatening to veto a deal.

The comments were met with bemusement in Whitehall.

One official said they were in direct contradiction to the latest communication guidelines issued to officials and diplomats and would upset the government’s foreign policy objectives.

The guidelines, titled “Cross-Whitehall vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics communications narrative”, were last updated on December 1 and emphasise “global co-operation".

Mr Williamson’s reference to competition broke with the government’s plan to encourage the sharing of vaccines, the official said.

Officials and diplomats have also been specifically told to push back against “vaccine nationalism", the guidance showed.

A section of the document said: "The global effort to discover a coronavirus vaccine is not a competition between countries, but the most urgent endeavour of our lifetimes."

But Mr Johnson’s spokesman supported Mr Williamson.

“What you’ve seen is the Secretary of State rightly being proud of the United Kingdom,” Downing Street spokesman Jamie Davies said on Thursday.

“We are proud of the action we’ve taken throughout the pandemic to protect the public and save lives.”

Sweden, whose unorthodox pandemic strategy placed it in the global spotlight, registered 35 new Covid-19 related deaths, Health Agency statistics showed on Thursday, taking the total to 7,007.

It registered 6,485 new coronavirus cases, compared with a previous high of 7,240 daily cases recorded two weeks ago.

Sweden's death rate per capita is several times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours but lower than several European countries that opted for lockdowns.

Sweden's high schools will switch to distance learning from December 7 for the rest of the term, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Thursday, amid mounting numbers of new coronavirus infections and deaths.

“This is being done so as to have a slowing effect on the spread of the disease,” Mr Lofven said.

“This is not an extended break for Christmas. I'm putting trust in you.”

After a lull during summer, cases have surged over the past couple of months, with daily records repeatedly set. Deaths and hospital admissions have also risen sharply.