The United Kingdom is now the second country with the highest recorded number of coronavirus in the world. Britain now has a higher death poll than Italy which was the epicentre of the outbreak in Europe. The United Kingdom follows closely the United States which has the highest number of recorded death to COVID-19 in the world with more than 72,000 deaths.
On Tuesday, 5 May, Britain’s death poll plunged to 29,427 as the country’s Health Ministry announced 693 deaths to the pandemic disease. Dominic Raab, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, speaking to reporters made known that the skyrocketing death toll is a massive tragedy never experienced before in the UK. Going further, he stated that in terms of juxtaposition with Italy, until the pandemic is over, we really can’t know how well countries have done in battling the disease.
According to experts, however, the British government was not fast in their response to the pandemic disease. Also, Britain has a low level of testing for COVID-19 and inadequate availability of beds, ventilators, and protective equipment in intensive care.
Devi Sridhar of the Edinburgh University Medical School stated that Britain was hit hard because of their slow response and late actions. Lothar Wieler, Germany’s top disease control official also warned again a new outbreak like the second or third wave of the pandemic disease.
