Britain surpasses Italy with Europe’s highest official coronavirus death toll

Britain has passed Italy to record the highest official death toll from coronavirus in Europe with more than 32,000 deaths, numbers published on Tuesday showed.

The high death toll could further increase political tension on Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who waited longer than other European leaders to order a lockdown to control the spread of the virus in March.

Weekly figures from Britain’s national statistics office added more than 7,000 deaths in England and Wales, raising the total for the United Kingdom to 32,313.

The figure is one of several methods for calculating deaths and difficult to compare with other countries, but it offers the clearest sign yet that Britain could emerge as the worst-hit country in Europe, despite being hit later than other countries.