With 1,789 Deaths & 25,000 Cases Of Coronavirus, UK Is Struggling To Deal With Mounting Crisis

A record 381 people, including a 13-year-old, have been confirmed to have died as on Tuesday in the United Kingdom, taking the death toll to 1,789. The country is one of the hardest hit by coronavirus in the world.

These figures represent the single-biggest daily rise in the death toll since the crisis began, and mean the number of recorded victims has doubled in four days. It ends a two-day run when the increase in deaths appeared to be steadying.

Reuters

A 27% spike in deaths in a the space of a day tells you the magnitude of the crises the UK is currently going through.

Britain initially took a gradual approach to containing the virus compared with European countries such as Italy.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed stringent controls after projections showed a quarter of a million people could die. Johnson has since become the first leader of a major power to announce a positive test result for coronavirus.

Britain lags Italy, Spain and France in terms of the number of deaths, but they are still doubling around every 3.5 days.

Anadolu Agency

The government last Monday ordered a three-week lockdown, shutting non-essential shops and services to help reduce contacts and relieve the burden on the National Health Service.

Britain has braced for an expected surge in coronavirus cases, including setting up a 4,000-bed field hospital at a giant London exhibition centre -- one of four across the country.

But senior minister Michael Gove said there was "not a fixed date like Easter when you know that the peak will come".

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the UK government confirmed that foreign doctors, including from India, whose visas are set to expire before October this year will get an automatic extension for one year as they battle the coronavirus pandemic for the country's National Health Service (NHS).

Reuters

The extension, announced by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, will apply to around 2,800 migrant doctors, nurses and paramedics employed by the NHS whose visa is due to expire before October 1.

"Doctors, nurses and paramedics from all over the world are playing a leading role in the NHS's efforts to tackle coronavirus and save lives. We owe them a great deal of gratitude for all that they do," said Patel.

"I don't want them distracted by the visa process. That is why I have automatically extended their visas free of charge for a further year, the Indian-origin minister said.