UK records another 1,200 Covid deaths as vaccinations near 9 million

30 January 2021, 18:03 | Updated: 30 January 2021, 18:57

By Nick Hardinges

@NHardinges

Another 1,200 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus as vaccinations near nine million.

Saturday's number brings Britain's Covid-19 death toll since the pandemic began to 105,571.

However, separate figures published by the UK's statistics agencies show that mortalities have actually surpassed 122,000.

That data includes deaths where the virus has been mentioned on death certificates and adds mortalities that have occurred in recent days.

The UK has also recorded a further 23,275 lab-confirmed cases, bringing the tally so far to 3,796,088.

Both the deaths and infections reported today represent a drop on last Saturday's figures, when 1,348 people died and a further 33,552 infections were recorded.

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The UK had administered 8,859,372 jabs up to 29 January, of which 8,378,940 were first doses, the government said.

It marks a rise of 487,756 on the previous day's figures.

The remaining 480,432 shots given so far have been second doses, an increase of 2,178 on the figures released the previous day.

Britain's seven-day rolling average of first doses is now 359,656.

For the government to reach its target of 15 million initial inoculations by 15 February, that figure would need to average 413,816.

On Saturday, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the UK is "fully on course" to hit that target of vaccinating the 15 million most vulnerable individuals in the UK by mid-February.

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He told reporters he is "confident" Covid vaccine supplies will reach the UK as planned and that the country's vaccination programme will not be affected by the EU's bitter row with AstraZeneca and its Article 16 U-turn.

Mr Gove said it was made clear between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen that jab supplies would not be interrupted.

It comes despite the bloc's export controls and demands for British-manufactured jabs.

The minister said: "We're confident that we can proceed with our vaccine programmes exactly as planned.

"Last night the prime minister talked to President von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, and made clear that we need to have the contracts that have been entered into honoured properly.

"And it was made clear that that supply would not be interrupted so we can proceed with our plans and make sure that our so far highly-successful vaccination programme can continue."

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Separate figures show more than 900 people died with coronavirus on average every day in the UK in the first two weeks of 2021.

The last time the UK saw a 15-day period that was so deadly was in the last half of April 2020, and the number is likely to increase as more deaths are registered.

The findings coincide with the first anniversary of the UK's earliest known death involving Covid-19, which took place on January 30 2020.

One year on, the UK's Covid-19 full death toll, including all mentions of coronavirus on death certificates, has passed 120,000.

The first wave saw 50,000 deaths reached on 23 May, two months after the UK locked down for the first time.

It took a further six months for the UK Covid-19 death toll to pass 75,000 on 26 November. But it then took just six weeks for the death toll to pass 100,000 on 7 January.

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