COVID-19 infections hit 100 million globally

The world has hit another grim milestone in its fight against coronavirus, as the hundred millionth person was diagnosed with the disease.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, which has been counting coronavirus deaths and cases since the first cases hit Wuhan in December 2019, more than 100 million people have now been infected.

The US remains the worst-hit nation, with more than 25 million cases - a quarter of the world’s tally - and more than 420,000 deaths.

The 100 million cases come as Britain became the first European country to pass 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.

Another 1631 deaths were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total to 100,162 from nearly 3.7 million positive cases and overshadowing progress in an unprecedented vaccination campaign.

An ashen-faced Prime Minister Boris Johnson told a news conference just minutes after the official statistics were published that it was “hard to compute” the loss felt by families across the UK.

I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and of course as Prime Minister I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done, he said.

But he said the government, which has been criticised for its initial response to the COVID-19 outbreak, “did everything that we could to minimise suffering and minimise loss of life”.

Britain reported its first cases of the disease almost a year ago, on January 29, 2020, but Johnson was initially relaxed about the outbreak, despite widespread calls for a lockdown.