UK’s Covid-19 death toll passes 125,000
The UK’s official Covid-19 death toll passed 125,000 today, according to data from Public Health England.
The death toll is the highest of any country in Europe.
There were 181 further deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, which took the official tally to 125,168 while 6,573 new cases were also reported.
However, the number of deaths, cases and hospitalisations have rapidly fallen in the last few weeks as the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout goes from strength to strength.
The strict nationwide lockdown, imposed after Christmas, has also helped to reduce the number of new infections after a particularly infectious variant of Coronavirus, the “Kent strain”, fuelled a rise in Covid-19 cases at the start of the year.
The total number of people who have received a first dose of the Covid-19 rose by almost half a million, with more than 23m people now vaccinated from roughly 22.6m, according to government figures.
A further relaxation of lockdown rules is scheduled for the 29th of March when the “rule of six” will be reimplemented, allowing people from six separate households to meet outdoors.