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Coronavirus tracked: UK's daily death rate is now the highest in the world

More than 500 in every million people in the UK have now died from Covid-19

Anthony Cuthbertson
Thursday 28 May 2020 09:46 BST
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All you need to know from the latest UK coronavirus briefing

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The UK now has the highest rate of confirmed deaths from Covid-19 worldwide, averaging close to 5 in every million people per day.

Figures from the last seven days show that the average death rate in the UK is now more than that of France and Italy combined.

The second highest death rate over the last seven days is in Sweden, where the government decided against imposing a lockdown to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

There were 118 deaths from coronavirus recorded on 25 May in the UK, bringing the total number of deaths to 36,793. Only the US has more confirmed deaths from the coronavirus, with a total of 99,805.

More than 500 in every million people in the UK have now died as a result of the pandemic.​

There have been no new deaths from coronavirus over the last week in New Zealand, where one of the quickest lockdowns was imposed.

Limited testing in countries like Brazil means the number of actual deaths caused by coronavirus is likely to be much higher than the official figure.

Since 20 May, the number of new deaths from coronavirus reported each day has fallen in both the UK and the US, as the impact of lockdowns and other containment measures begin to be realised.

A similar trend can be seen with France and Italy, which were among the first countries in Europe to introduce lockdowns.

The number of confirmed cases in these countries has also begun to drop, suggesting the death rate will continue to decrease.

This trend could be reversed, however, as countries begin to emerge from lockdowns. Some experts warn that exiting lockdown too early could lead to a second wave of infections.

The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the US now outnumbers the death toll from the Vietnam Way, Iraq War and the 9/11 terror attacks combined.

America’s higher population means that the UK still has a greater number of deaths per million people than the US.

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