UK Covid-19 deaths reach 100,000

The UK's Covid crisis officially reached a sombre milestone yesterday evening when the latest government figures tipped the country's death total past the 100,000 mark. In a press briefing on the topic, prime minister Johnson said "it is hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic", later describing the toll as "an appalling and tragic loss of life".

Johnson's government has consistently come under heavy criticism for its handling of the pandemic and the UK's resultant place at the unenviable end of a number of global comparisons. Pressed by the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg on the reasons for this situation, Johnson responded: "I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost,” adding “and of course as prime minister, I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done.”