Boris Johnson say sorry as Britain tops 100,000 Covid deaths

Britain has become the first European country to pass 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.

‘I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost’: Boris Johnson at Downing Street on Tuesday night. Picture: AFP

Britain has become the first European country to pass 100,000 COVID-19 deaths in a grim milestone nearly a year since its first case of the disease.

Another 1631 deaths were ­reported on Tuesday night, bringing the total to 100,162 from nearly 3.7 million positive cases and overshadowing progress in an unprecedented vaccination campaign.

An ashen-faced Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a news conference just minutes after the official statistics were published that it was “hard to compute” the loss felt by families across the UK.

“I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and, of course, as Prime Minister I take full ­responsibility for everything the government has done,” he said.

The government, which has been criticised for its initial ­response to the outbreak, “did everything we could to minimise suffering and minimise loss of life”.

Labour leader Keir Starmer called the statistic a “national tragedy”.

Britain reported its first cases of the disease almost a year ago, on January 29, 2020. Britain is banking on its vaccination drive to beat the virus, and has administered jabs to 6,853,327 people, ­according to latest figures.

Mr Johnson also urged the EU not to impose export controls on vaccines amid discontent over a delay in rolling out pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca’s jab to member countries.

Across the North Sea, cities in The Netherlands were calmer on Tuesday after three nights of rioting against a coronavirus curfew as authorities vowed to crack down on the unrest, blaming “scum” for the looting and arson and deploying a huge police presence on the streets.

There were no major incidents reported in Amsterdam, Rotterdam or The Hague, where previous clashes had left a trail of looted shops, smashed windows and burned cars in the worst unrest the country has seen in decades. At least 400 people have now been arrested after The Netherlands imposed a first ­­nat­ionwide curfew since World War II. Several cities had granted police extra powers amid reports that fresh protests were being ­organised on social media against the 9pm-4.30am curfew.

“You don’t capitulate to people who smash shop windows,” Fin­ance Minister Wopke Hoekstra told ANP national news agency Tuesday. “Scum does this.”

Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus also said the government would keep the curfew in place.

It is expected to last until at least February 9, in what the government says is a vital step to bring down COVID-19 cases.

Police patrol in the streets of Rotterdam during the curfew on Tuesday night. Picture: AFP

Newly inaugurated US President Joe Biden pledged to ramp up the country’s struggling vaccine program. The US, which passed 25 million confirmed cases at the weekend, has the largest outbreak — and the largest death toll of more than 420,000.

Mr Biden is seeking to turn around the fight against the virus, which took a ferocious grip on the country during Donald Trump’s presidency when the risks were downplayed and officials gave mixed messages on mask-wearing and other safety measures.

The President said vaccinating the entire US population was a daunting challenge, and the program inherited from the Trump administration “was in worse shape than we anticipated or ­expected”. “This is a wartime undertaking. It’s not hyperbole,” he said, announcing the US was buying an extra 200 million doses and would have enough to vaccinate 300 million Americans — virtually the entire population — by the early northern autumn.

The London Times reported the UK government would announce on Wednesday night that British travellers must quarantine in hotels near airports for 10 days after returning from 30 high-risk countries, mostly in South America and Southern Africa.

Ireland said on Tuesday it would enact mandatory travel quarantines for the first time.

Among other European nat­ions looking to strengthen border controls was Germany, which said it was considering almost completely halting flights into the country.

AFP