Fatalities from COVID-19 in UK reach 43,550

By Fahri Aksut

ANKARA (AA) - British health authorities announced on Sunday that 36 more people died from the novel coronavirus across the UK over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 43,550.

The Department of Health tweeted: "As of 9am 28 June, there have been 9,195,132 tests, with 127,709 tests on 27 June. 311,151 people have tested positive.”

It added: "As of 5pm on 27 June, of those tested positive for coronavirus, across all settings, 43,550 have sadly died.”

The UK ranked the first in Europe in terms of the number of deaths from COVID-19, and the third in the world after the US and Brazil.

Since first appearing in China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil, and Russia are currently the countries hardest hit in the world.

The pandemic has killed almost 500,000 people worldwide, with infections surpassing 10 million and more than 5 million recoveries, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.