UK Covid death toll breaches 50,000 milestone

Country suffers highest daily figure since May

The peak of the first wave occurred on April 8 when the UK recorded 1,073 Covid-19 deaths in a single day. AFP

Britain reported 595 new Covid deaths on Wednesday, taking the country past 50,000 deaths in total since the pandemic struck.

Wednesday’s daily death toll figure was the highest since 614 deaths were reported on May 12, government data showed. The total death toll is now 50,365.

There were 22,950 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in the latest daily figures, up from 20,412 on Tuesday.

The peak of the first wave occurred on April 8 when the UK recorded 1,073 Covid-19 deaths in a single day. The death toll gradually came down over the spring before plateauing in summer.

Deaths began to rise again in early September – with the death rate almost doubling every fortnight.

The surging second wave prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to tighten restrictions before admitting that the UK faced a “medical and moral disaster” if he did not impose a second national lockdown.

In a sign of growing frustration within Mr Johnson’s own party, MPs on Wednesday set up a new group to fight what they call a cycle of lockdowns.

While most Conservatives backed the government last week in supporting the second lockdown, more than 30 of the party's MPs broke ranks, seeing the measures as draconian.

A new internal group, called the Covid Recovery Group, aims to apply pressure on a government which many feel is not listening to the party's concerns.

"Last week I voted against a Conservative government for only the second time in my 15 years in parliament," said Mark Harper, chairman of the new group.

"Lockdowns cost lives … the cure we're prescribing runs the risk of being worse than the disease."

Steve Baker, the group’s deputy chairman, said he wanted to find "a more sustainable way of leading our lives until a vaccine is rolled out".

On Monday, Pfizer announced its vaccine was 90 per cent effective and it was seeking emergency approval for a December rollout.

But Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer for England, said the UK would not compromise on safety as it completes its own checks on the vaccine.

He said he was so certain of the UK’s rigorous checks that if it was “right and moral” for him to receive an early vaccination he would do so.

“But that clearly isn’t right,” he said. “We have to target the highest risk individuals in society. That is how it should be.”

Prof Van-Tam said he would be encouraging his elderly mother to be vaccinated against coronavirus.

He said: “The ‘mum test’ is very important here. I’ve already said to her, ‘When you’re called, make sure you’re ready, be ready to take this up. This is really important for you because of your age'.”

The UK vaccine regulator – the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency – said it had been reviewing vaccine data on a “rolling basis” which will allow it to make a swift decision on vaccine safety.

“The public can be very confident all those tests are done to the highest standards,” agency chief Dr June Raine said.

Prof Van-Tam said the UK would still approve the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine if it is safe but has a lower efficacy rate than the AstraZeneca vaccine.

He said: “In this space we’ve got to understand that it would be very easy to let the perfect become the enemy of the good here.”