COVID-19 Deaths Cross 13,000, UK May Extend Lockdown

• COVID-19 Deaths Near 13,000, UK May Extend Lockdown

The United Kingdom may extend the current lockdown as the total number of deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic rose over 13,000 on Thursday.

The total number of deaths rose by 861 on Thursday to 13,729, according to the British Department of Health.

Dominic Raab, the nation’s Foreign Secretary who is presently standing in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, will be meeting with key ministers before an official announcement.

On Thursday, Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, said: “it is too early to make a change” to lockdown policy ahead of meetings of the cabinet and a special coronavirus committee.

“Whilst we’ve seen a flattening of the number of cases, and thankfully a flattening of the number of deaths, that hasn’t started to come down yet. And as far as I’m concerned that is still far too high.”

He said the vast majority of Britons had followed rules not to go out except for exercise and to buy essential items.

“I don’t want to put all of that good effort to waste,” said Hancock, who himself has also had coronavirus but recovered quickly.

“Because if we just released all the measures then this virus would run rampant once again, and we can’t let that happen.”

Hancock did not state how long the lockdown would continue, but the British law states that it must be reviewed every 21 days.

The UK has now tested 417,648 people with 103,093 testing positive for COVID-19.