UK’s Covid death rate compared to other countries - and why experts think it’s so high

Boris Johnson announced on 26 January that the UK Covid death toll had reached 100,000, stating it was “hard to compute the sorrow” the deaths had caused.

As of 16 January, the UK has one of the highest death rates in the world relative to its population - with more than 16 people in every million dying each day from coronavirus at the beginning of 2021.

This has led many to ask why the UK has reached a death toll higher than that witnessed during the Great Plague, Aids pandemic, and every war and terrorist attack since 1945 combined. Here is what we know so far.

How does the UK death toll compare to other countries?

The UK is one of only five countries around the world which has surpassed 100,000 deaths.

The others are Brazil, the US, India and Mexico.

Around Europe, countries which once seemed in far greater danger of catastrophic fatalities now fall far below the UK in terms of fatalities, due to a number of factors.

Italy, where the south was locked down with only the Army patrolling the streets, has seen less than a third of the number of deaths the UK has witnessed (27,000).

In Germany, Covid deaths are now recorded at 53,000 in total.

In Finland and Iceland, where stricter lockdowns were imposed earlier, 600 and 50 deaths from Covid have been reported respectively.

Why is the UK Covid death toll so high?

There is not one specific reason why the UK is one of only a handful of countries to have surpassed 100,000 deaths.

On 26 January, the UK recorded 100,162 deaths in total from coronavirus - the first European country to reach over 100,000.

Medical experts have stated that the UK’s ageing and ethnically diverse population, high obesity levels and the fact that London is a global travel hub for Europe are all factors in the country’s high Covid death toll.

However, the government has also been accused of a number of decision-making failures which have led to excess deaths.

Here are some of the factors that may have contributed to the UK’s high death toll.

Test and Trace

The absence of a test and trace system last spring - when the virus was spreading at an unprecedented rate - is considered a key factor in the cause of excess deaths.

Test and Trace was not launched until 28 May 2020, four months after the first case was confirmed.

Travel restrictions

The unwillingness of the UK government to close its borders when the virus was first reported in the UK is also thought to have been a major contributor to the high death rate.

MPs have since compared the UK response against places such as South Korea, where screening and mandatory quarantining were in place for arrivals from China, by 3 January 2020. South Korea has witnessed 1,300 deaths since the pandemic began.

In New Zealand, arrivals from China were quarantined for 14 days from 3 February 2020 and all international arrivals were ordered to quarantine from 15 March. New Zealand has had 25 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.