Johnson Says 'Hard To Compute The Sorrow' After Announcing 100,000 COVID-19 Deaths In UK

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th January, 2021) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that the coronavirus-related fatalities in the country had exceeded an unprecedented toll of 100,000.

Back in March 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak was gaining momentum worldwide, the UK chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, told the parliament's health and social care committee that 20,000 deaths and below would be a good outcome of the pandemic in the United Kingdom.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you that today, the number of deaths recorded from COVID in the UK has surpassed 100,000, and it's hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic," Johnson said at a press briefing.

The prime minister added that he took full responsibility for everything that the government had done wrong.

"I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost .

.. What I can tell you, is that we truly did everything we could and continue to do everything that we can to minimize loss of life and to minimize suffering in what has been a very very difficult stage and a very very difficult crisis for our country," Johnson noted.

The UK vaccination campaign started on December 8. As of Tuesday, around 6.5 million people have received at least one vaccine dose. The vaccination is currently open to five priority groups, including people over 80 years old, some people over 70, clinically vulnerable persons, personnel of care homes, and medical workers.

There are currently three authorized vaccines in the United Kingdom � the domestically-made AstraZeneca, the US-German Pfizer/BioNTech, and the one developed by US company Moderna.