The UK’s coronavirus death toll has passed more than 40,000, according to the latest government figures.
A total of 40,261 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for the virus, up 357 from Thursday.
The UK is only the second country – after the US with 108,000 deaths – to pass the grim milestone.
In March, the UK’s chief scientific adviser said limiting deaths to 20,000 would be a “good outcome”.
At the daily Downing Street briefing BBC health editor Hugh Pym asked about this assessment, to which Health Secretary Matt Hancock replied that it had been “a time of sorrow for us all”.
Each death represents “a family that will never be the same again”, he said, adding: “My heart goes out to them all and it makes me redouble my determination to deal with this virus.”
‘We love and miss him so much’
The BBC has been collecting the personal stories of some of the families who have lost loved ones since the UK recorded its first coronavirus death three months ago – like that of Adam Brown, a 30-year-old with learning disabilities who died on 29 April.
“Despite the wonderful doctors’, nurses’, consultants’ best and desperate efforts, even going over and above to save our son’s life, Adam died alone and afraid, from the coronavirus,” said his mother, Maureen.
“We love and miss him so much, as our whole lives have always revolved around him.”
