Britain had the worst death rate of any country in Europe from the pandemic, official figures showed for the first time yesterday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Britain had more excess deaths over the first half of the year than anywhere else on the Continent.
Challenged on the rate, Boris Johnson said there had been “massive success” in bringing deaths down. The prime minister tried to use the data to urge the nation to keep its “discipline” against the virus. He told the public not to “delude” themselves by thinking that they could relax social distancing.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, appeared to shift some of the blame for the high death toll away from the handling of the pandemic and on to
