UK records 2nd-worst daily fatalities of COVID-19 pandemic

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - The UK reported a further 1,725 coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, the second-highest figure on record, according to government figures.

There were also 25,308 more cases recorded. Latest figures brought the total number of deaths to 101,887 and total number of cases to 3,715,054.

The previous record came last week when the UK registered 1,820 deaths on a single day.

Government figures also showed that 7,164,387 have received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine, and 474,156 their second doses.

Meanwhile AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot told Italian newspaper La Repubblica: "By March, the UK will have vaccinated maybe 28 to 30 million people.

"The prime minister has a goal to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-February, and they're already at 6.5 million. So they will get there."

On Tuesday, the UK’s death toll from COVID-19 surpassed the grim mark of 100,000.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a press briefing yesterday that it was "hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic."

He added: "I think on this day I should just really repeat that I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost, and of course as I was prime minister, I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done," he said, when asked what had gone wrong with the UK response.

Opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said of the UK surpassing 100,000 deaths that it was a "national tragedy".

He added: "We must never become numb to these numbers or treat them as just statistics. Every death is a loved one, a friend, a neighbour, a partner or a colleague. It is an empty chair at the dinner table."