London: The UK has recorded 737 new coronavirus-related hospital deaths, taking the total number to 10,612 on Sunday. It comes after one of the government’s senior scientific advisers said the UK is likely to be among the worst-affected European countries.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said, “Sunday marks a sombre day”, but welcomed efforts people had made to stay at home, the BBC reported. The number of reported deaths does not include deaths outside of hospitals.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson thanked healthcare workers for saving his life after being discharged from hospital. Hancock told the daily press briefing: “A sombre day in the impact of this disease as we join the list of countries who have seen more than 10,000 deaths related to coronavirus.”
Italy on Sunday reported its lowest coronavirus death toll in more than three weeks, confirming trends showing that the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe’s worst-hit nation had peaked.
The 431 new deaths reported by the civil protection service were the lowest since March 19. Italy’s death total now stands at 19,899, officially second behind the United States.
The number of people currently showing COVID-19 symptoms is still growing, officially rising to 102,253, but the number of people receiving emergency care is dropping, the data showed. The number of people in non-critical hospital care is also down.
“The pressure on our hospitals continues to ease,” civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli told reporters.
Americans spent Easter Sunday on lockdown as the U.S. toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic surpassed 21,300 deaths and more than half a million confirmed cases.
In the latest sign of the disruption wrought by the disease, one of the nation’s largest pork processing plants was shuttered after workers fell ill, and its owner warned the country was moving ‘perilously close to the edge’ in supplies for grocers.
“It is impossible to keep our grocery stores stocked if our plants are not running,” Ken Sullivan, chief executive of Smithfield Foods, said in a statement on Sunday.
With almost all Americans kept indoors under stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the disease, many turned to online church services to mark the holiest day in the Christian calendar.
The United States has recorded more fatalities from the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus than any other country in the world. Roughly 2,000 deaths a day were reported for the last four days in a row, the largest number in and around New York City. Even that is viewed as understated, as New York is still figuring out how best to include a surge in deaths at home in its official statistics. As the death toll has mounted, President Donald Trump mulled over when the country might begin to see a return to normality.