66 more people die of coronavirus in the UK
An additional 66 people have died of coronavirus in the UK, government officials confirmed, taking the total number of fatalities to 45,119.
According to figures from the Department of Health, there have also been 642 new positive cases of the virus.
That means 292,552 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the UK.
The new figures came as the government’s chief scientific adviser said that the government had likely made mistakes in its handling of the virus.
Speaking to the parliamentary science and technology committee, Sir Patrick Vallance said that the UK had not achieved a good outcome from the pandemic.
“It’s very difficult to know exactly where we stand at the moment. It’s clear that the outcome has not been good in the UK, I think we can be absolutely clear about that”, he said.
“There will be things, decisions made, that will turn out not to have been the right decisions at the time, I’m sure about that as well.”
Yesterday Prime Minister Boris Johnson committed to an “independent inquiry” into the pandemic today after a question by the Lib Dem’s Ed Davey.
He said it was not right to devote a huge amount of time to an inquiry while the UK is still in the middle of a pandemic. But the government would seek to learn lessons and “certainly we will have an independent inquiry in to what happened”.
The UK has the highest coronavirus death toll in Europe. According to Reuters’ tally of deaths, 56,000 people in the country have been killed by the new disease.
Vallance also warned that it was likely that the virus would return in future years.
“What we’re dealing with now is a suppressed first wave,” he said. “I think it’s quite probable that we will see this virus coming back in different waves over a number of years.”