UK Covid death toll rises by 479 amid anti-lockdown protests in London
28 November 2020, 17:34 | Updated: 28 November 2020, 22:13
The UK's coronavirus death toll has risen by 479 amid anti-lockdown protests in London, taking the country's tally to 58,030.
There were a further 15,871 lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Britain, with the total number of infections now standing at 1,605,172.
It comes as anti-lockdown protesters caused disruption on the streets of the capital on Saturday.
More than 150 arrests had been made as of 7:25pm for several offences, including breaching coronavirus restrictions, with that figure expected to rise, the Metropolitan Police said.
Separate figures published by the UK's statistics agencies for deaths where coronavirus has been mentioned on the death certificate, plus additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 73,000 Covid-related deaths in Britain.
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In England, another 298 people who tested positive for Covid-19 died in hospital, bringing the tally of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 40,197, NHS England said on Saturday.
The youngest of those to have died was aged 27 while the oldest person was 100. All except 16, aged between 45 and 92, had known underlying health conditions.
Saturday's recorded deaths occurred between 14 October and 27 November.
Nineteen other deaths were reported with no positive coronavirus test result.
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Officers have made over 60 arrests following groups gathering in London today. These were for a number of different offences, including breaching coronavirus restrictions. We expect this number to rise.
— Met Police Events (@MetPoliceEvents) November 28, 2020
We continue to urge people to go home.
In London, police faced booing from demonstrators and chants of "shame on you" as they intervened in the anti-lockdown protest.
Traffic was temporarily blocked on Regent Street as officers attempted to handcuff people on the ground in the middle of the road.
The grassroots group Save Our Rights UK, which says it is working for democracy, had planned a protest on Saturday called Unite For Freedom - Time For Action, according to its website.
Delighted to have been asked by @BorisJohnson to become the minister for Covid vaccine deployment.A big responsibility&a big operational challenge but absolutely committed to making sure we can roll out vaccines quickly-saving lives and livelihoods and helping us #buildbackbetter
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) November 28, 2020
Elsewhere, Nadhim Zahawi said he was "delighted" to have been asked to become the minister responsible for the vaccine rollout.
He tweeted: "Delighted to have been asked by @BorisJohnson to become the minister for Covid vaccine deployment.
"A big responsibility and a big operational challenge but absolutely committed to making sure we can roll out vaccines quickly - saving lives and livelihoods and helping us #buildbackbetter."
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