6 May 2020

Coronavirus: UK death toll surpasses Italy

From Morning Report, 6:16 am on 6 May 2020

The UK has passed Italy to have the highest death toll in Europe from Covid-19. 

It comes as the number of Covid-related deaths globally exceeds 250,000, with over 3.5 million cases worldwide. 

A number of other countries have also reached milestones: yesterday, India reported its highest number of cases in one day - around 4000; and Russia had over 10,000 cases in 24 hours for the third day running. 

Official UK Government figures now put the number of deaths at just under 30,000. 

The Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, announced the figures at a media conference early this morning, and said there wouldn't be a "real verdict" on international comparisons until it was all over. 

Correspondent Vincent McAviney speaks to Kim Hill.