More than 100,000 people have died with coronavirus in the UK after a further 1,631 deaths within 28 days of testing positive for the virus recorded in the daily figures.

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The overall figure comes to 100,162 deaths, with the UK the first European nation to pass the landmark figure.

Yvonne Doyle, medical director for Public Health England, said: “This is a sobering moment in the pandemic, these are not just numbers. Each death is a person who was someone’s family member and friend.

“This virus has sadly taken millions of lives across the world but we have learnt a lot about this coronavirus over the past year. The best way to slow the spread is to follow the rules and right now that means staying at home.”

The Prime Minister spoke from Downing Street on the BBC, ITV and via YouTube channels, here are the key points from Boris Johnson’s press conference.  

WATCH LIVE: An update on coronavirus (26 January 2021) https://t.co/JODbbRgrUV

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) January 26, 2021

Prime Minister’s pledge

Boris Johnson pledged that the UK will come together as a nation to remember those we have lost as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

He said it is “hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic” of the Government’s figure for coronavirus deaths having passed 100,000.

 “I’m sorry to have to tell you that today the number of deaths recorded from Covid in the UK has surpassed 100,000,” he said.

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“It’s hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic: The years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and for so many relatives the missed chance to even say goodbye.

“To all those who grieve, we make this pledge that when we’ve come through this crisis, we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost and to honour the selfless heroism of all those on the front line who gave their lives to save others. We will.”

“I take full responsibility”

Boris Johnson has said he takes “full responsibility” for everything the government has done.

Laura Kuenssberg of the BBC asked “what went so wrong” after the Government initially said that they had hoped to limit Covid-19 deaths to 20,000.

The Prime Minister said he is "deeply sorry for every life that has been lost" - and says he takes full responsibility for what the government has done.

Mr Johnson said: “I think on this day I should just really repeat that I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and of course as I was Prime Minister, I take full responsibility for everything that the Government has done.

“What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything that we can, to minimise loss of life and to minimise suffering in what has been a very, very difficult stage, and a very, very difficult crisis for our country, and we will continue to do that, just as every government that is affected by this crisis around the world is continuing to do the same.”

“We’re going to see quite a lot more deaths”

Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said that “unfortunately we’re going to see quite a lot more deaths over the next few weeks before the effects of the vaccines begin to be felt”.

He added: “I think we have to be realistic that that is going to happen. But trying to actually put a number on that, I don’t, think is helpful to anybody.

“I think what we really should do is do everything we can to try and prevent that, and that is a combination of rolling out the vaccines, as the prime minister has said, but also all of us doing our bit in terms of staying at home, except where we have to, and that’s something which I know the entire country is doing and that is really the key to the next few weeks.”

Deaths involving Covid-19 in UK (PA)

Financial bonus for NHS staff?

Boris Johnson has declined to give NHS staff in England a financial bonus as a gesture of support after health and social care colleagues in Scotland got a £500 payment.

Instead, the Prime Minister told the Downing Street press conference: “We do our absolute utmost to support our wonderful NHS staff and indeed have had a three-year pay package for nurses, that I think was 12.8%, and will continue to invest record sums in the NHS.

“I think the amount we invested in the NHS even before the pandemic began was more than any time in modern memory, £34 billion package of investment, and that will continue under this Government.”

Clarity on schools

Last week deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries told the parliamentary select committee that a regional approach to the reopening of schools was being considered based on rates of infection in different parts of the country.

But when asked about this, referring to case rates in hospitals nationwide, the Prime Minister said it was "pretty much a national picture at the moment, but of course we will look at all of those ideas".

Mr Johnson confirmed that the government will be making sure advice is given to schools and parents well in advance of when schools could open.

New variant “changed the situation”

Prof Chris Whitty said the new coronavirus variant had “changed the situation we’re in very substantially”.

Speaking at the Downing Street press conference, he said decisions on when to implement measures was about balancing “the things which actually reduce the risk of transmission with all the other things we’re trying to do in terms of society staying functioning over what has been a very long period of time”.

Prof Whitty said the problems of the new variant had made things “very different” this year, adding this was not predictable in September.

He added: “We were worried two weeks that the measures we had at the moment were not enough to hold this new variant.”

He said data showed that “the rates are just about holding with the new variant with what everybody’s doing”.

Vaccine supply

Mr Johnson said he has “total confidence” in the UK’s supply of vaccines.

It comes as the European Union threatened to impose tight controls on the export of coronavirus vaccines made in the EU, potentially impacting the UK’s supply of Pfizer jabs.

Mr Johnson said: “All I would say is obviously we expect and hope that our EU friends will honour all contracts and we will continue…we fully expect that will happen…and we continue to work with friends and partners in the EU, and indeed around the world, because the delivery of the vaccine has been a multinational effort, the creation of the vaccine has been a multinational effort, and the delivery of the vaccine is multinational as well, because the virus knows no borders.”

(PA)

One year on

Chief executive of NHS Englan, Sir Simon Stevens highlighted that Sunday will mark one year since the first two patients with coronavirus were treated in hospital in the UK.

Speaking at the Downing Street press conference he said it would also be a year since the first flight returned from Wuhan in China with people returning to the UK being quarantined at Arrowe Park Hospital.

He added: “It’s a year in which over a quarter of a million severely ill coronavirus patients have been looked after in hospital.

Sir Simon said: “This is not a year that anybody is going to want to remember nor is it a year that across the health service any of us will ever forget.”