Covid Catastrophe UK could see 66,000 deaths: 

 

Study Research says first wave of pandemic outbreak could prove deadliest for Europe 

A woman shows a sign on her bicycle as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in intensive care fighting the coronavirus in London on Tuesday. —Photo: AP




AFP

Paris

Britain could see as many as 66,000 Covid-19 deaths during the first wave of the current pandemic, new research showed Tuesday, making the outbreak there by far the deadliest in Europe. Modelling conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine showed that approximately 1,51,680 people were likely to die across the continent.

While the novel coronavirus emerged in China and was initially focussed in east Asia, the World Health Organization now says the pandemic is centred in western Europe, with Spain, Italy and France experiencing devastating death tolls.

Most European nations have introduced strict social distancing measures to try to stem the virus spread. More than 5,000 people have died from Covid-19 in Britain, fewer than in Spain, Italy and France. But Britain’s epidemic lags behind the rest of the continent by several days, and its death toll trajectory is already steeper than other nations.

Using local and international data on case numbers, as well as age mortality breakdowns from Italy, China and the US, the team at IHME modelled the expected death toll on a country-by-country basis. A key consideration was an individual nation’s intensive care bed capacity. It found that Britain could experience 66,000 Covid-19 deaths by July.