UK PM Johnson: More record deaths to come because of the new variant
|The UK's PM Boris Johnson says record UK covid-19 deaths on Wednesday are appalling, but there will be more to come because of the new variant.
There have been 1,820 deaths reported in a new record high, eclipsing, by 13%, yesterday’s record of 1,610 deaths, alongside 38,905 new cases.
Prior to this, last week was the deadliest in the UK during the pandemic to date, with more than 1,000 Covid fatalities recorded on average per day.
A total of 7,250 Covid deaths were recorded in the week to Thursday 14 January by the government’s count of Covid deaths by date of death within 28 days of a positive test.
PM added: “It looks as though the rates of infection in the country overall may now be peaking or flattening but they’re not flattening very fast. There are “still tough weeks ahead, I must warn people there will be tough weeks to come."
Market implications
Despite the numbers, risk appetite remains bid and the pound rose above $1.37, hitting $1.3720, which was the highest since May 2018.
Markets have taken the Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey comments that there were "lots of issues" with cutting interest rates below zero, as a positive.
Moreover, the UK's progress in rolling out vaccines and less impactful Brexit risk than feard are also seen as positives for investors.
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