Tributes to Lives Lost, After Boris Johnson Announces Over 100,000 Deaths in UK

As the UK recorded its ‘milestone’ of over 100,000 deaths yesterday — tributes have been gathered to remember the lives claimed by coronavirus.

More than 100,000 lives have been lost to coronavirus in the UK – victims of a pandemic that has yielded two million deaths worldwide.

In his Downing Street news conference yesterday, Mr Johnson said that it was “hard to compute the sorrow contained in this grim statistic”.

He gave his “deepest condolences” to those who had lost loved ones, including “fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and the many grandparents who’ve been taken”.

Mr Johnson went on to say he took “full responsibility” for the government’s actions, saying: “We truly did everything we could.”

“I’m deeply sorry for every life lost,” he added.

A total of 100,162 deaths have been recorded in the UK, the first European nation to pass the landmark, the BBC reports.

To mark this record, the BBC have gathered tributes to more than 680 of those who have died, which can be viewed here. The online tribute contains words of remembrance from friends, family and colleagues.

The health secretary Matt Hancock said the figure was “heartbreaking” while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was a “national tragedy”

The UK is the fifth country to pass 100,000 deaths, coming after the US, Brazil, India and Mexico.

A surge in cases in recent weeks – driven in part by a new, fast-spreading variant of the virus – has left the UK with one of the highest coronavirus death rates globally.

Mr Johnson said the coronavirus infection rate remained “pretty forbiddingly high” despite lockdown restrictions which have been in place in England since 5 January.

Under the national lockdown, people in England must stay at home and only go out for limited reasons – including for food shopping, exercise, or work if they cannot do so from home. Similar measures are in place across much of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Mr Johnson said he would set out more detail in “the next few days and weeks” about “when and how we want to get things open again”.

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