.
The figures for each country are problematic to compare as each government has its own counting criteria.
Dr Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia and adviser to the WHO, warned that the UK was on course to having one of the highest Covid – 23 mortality rates in Europe.
He said: “Our deaths are increasing more rapidly than any other country really apart from the US.
“But the US is still a long way behind us in terms of deaths per one million of the population. “
Speaking today at the daily press conference, the Home Secretary Priti Patel, said the , (figure was a “tragic and terrible milestone” and warned the country “we’re not out of the woods yet”.
Last month the government chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said keeping deaths below , would be a “good outcome”.
He told a committee of MPs on March : “If we can get this down to , and below, that is a good outcome in terms of where we would Hope to get to with this outbreak. ”
The figure does not include deaths in care homes, which the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates could account for half of all deaths in Europe.
These deaths are measured separately by the Office of National Statistics and based on death certificates. They are announced weekly.
Global results linked to the new strain of coronavirus
A London Ambulance worker cleans an ambulance outside of the Royal London Hospital (Image: Getty Images)
Confirmed cases of the virus are expected to hit three million in coming days.
More than half of the fatalities have been reported by the United States, Spain and Italy.
Read More Coronavirus outbreak
The first death linked to the disease was reported on January 13 in Wuhan, China.
It took 200 days for the death toll to pass 319, and a further days to reach , , according to a Reuters tally of official reports from governments.
(Read More
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings