THE UK has become the first country in Europe to surpass 50,000 deaths of people who contracted Covid-19.
The official figures from the UK today showed that there were a further 595 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 50,365.
There were 22,950 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to over 1.2 million, according to government data.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson reacted to the grim milestone by saying that “every death is a tragedy”.
“We mourn everybody who’s gone, we’re not out of the woods yet, it does still require everybody to follow the guidance and do the right thing to suppress the disease,” he said.
The 595 deaths recorded today represents the highest daily toll since 6 May, when there were 612, according government figures.
The figures include those who tested positive for the disease within the last 28 days.
But wider data compiled by the Office for National Statistics, which include all deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned as a factor on the death certificate, puts the toll at more than 60,000.
Italy hits one million cases
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy has passed the symbolic one million mark, while almost 43,000 people have died, according to official data.
The country, the first in Europe to be hit by the outbreak earlier this year, recorded almost 33,000 new cases in the last 24 hours to reach 1,028,424 in total.
According to the ECDC, the 14-day cumulative number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 pf the population is 474 for the UK, 714 for Italy, and 145 for Ireland. The corresponding figure for deaths is 6.6 for the UK, 7.7 for Italy, and 1.5 for Ireland.
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