tonight at ten, the united kingdom is the first european state to record more than 100,000 deaths linked to the pandemic. these are human beings, these are people, with lives. they are not just numbers. i’m people, with lives. they are not just numbere— people, with lives. they are not just numbers-— people, with lives. they are not 'ust numbers. �* ., , ., just numbers. i'm left with a young family who — just numbers. i'm left with a young family who have _ just numbers. i'm left with a young family who have got _ just numbers. i'm left with a young family who have got no _ just numbers. i'm left with a young family who have got no dad. - just numbers. i'm left with a young family who have got no dad. that l just numbers. i'm left with a young i family who have got no dad. that was the last time — family who have got no dad. that was the last time i— family who have got no dad. that was the last time i saw _ family who have got no dad. that was the last time i saw her, _ family who have got no dad. that was the last time i saw her, and _ family who have got no dad. that was the last time i saw her, and she - family who have got no dad. that was the last time i saw her, and she was. the last time i saw her, and she was so heauiifut — a host of grieving families and friends express their pain as the uk now has one of the highest covid death rates in the world. i am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost. and, of course, as prime minister, i take full responsibility for everything the government has done.

so over so many families and months of pressure on the government but a vow from the prime minister, he says he did everything he could. we'll be reporting on the sombre milestone passed today and we'll also have the latest details on the mass vaccination programme. as the roll—out continues across the uk, there's a dispute between vaccine manufacturers and the european union on the way the distributions are made. the latest hard evidence from the nhs front line — tonight we're in mansfield, talking to patients and staff there. one night shift i had last week was one of the worst shifts i've had in 21 years in nursing. and unemployment is around a five—year high, as government intervention in the economy reaches a new peacetime record. and in the sport late on, we'll bring you up to speed from tonight's four premier league games including another difficult evening for manager steve bruce and newcastle united at st james' park.

good evening. the united kingdom is the first european state to record more than 100,000 deaths linked to the pandemic. and according to the university of oxford, the uk has one of the highest covid death rates anywhere in the world. the prime minister, borisjohnson, whose handling of the pandemic has been heavily criticised in some quarters, said he was "deeply sorry" for every life and that he took "full responsibility for everything that the government has done". professor chris whitty, the uk's chief medical adviser, said there would be many more deaths in the coming weeks before rates would start to fall. as the uk passes this particular milestone, our health correspondent catherine burns talks to some of the families who've lost loved ones during the pandemic. something really precious has been taken away from me and it's really hard. this is a life that's gone.

and the impact is huge. i'm left now with a young | family who've got no dad. my life is destroyed, everything is gone. today, we're using candles to represent those who died. 0ne light for every life lost. it started on march 2nd, the first person to die within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus. the next day, there were two more deaths. in less than three weeks, the official death toll was over 450. you must stay at home... the prime minister announced a national lockdown on march 23rd. the next day, the official death toll reached 1,000. richard nabieu died on april 10th. he was a nurse who worked with elderly people. his daughter, jamie, hated not being able to visit him in hospital.

i called him the morning of the day he passed away and waved, and he said, "bye, jamie," and i said, "bye, "daddy, speak to you later, i'll call you in the evening." and the evening never came. i never thought he wouldn't come home. something that i've struggled with is the fact that he was alone, you know. i find comfort in the fact that every day he knew how loved he was, yeah. it was disbelief that this person, my favourite person in the whole world, wasn't here any more. we haven't had the opportunity to grieve because it feels like the whole world is grieving. by the time richard died, the death toll was more than 13,000, but the first wave had peaked. the number of people dying every day began to fall, slowly and gradually. by the start ofjune, more than 38,000 people had died. in reality, the death toll would have been higher. in the early stages of the pandemic the figures only included people who tested positive in hospital.

ada jackson was 90 and had early signs of dementia, but family say she was happy, strong and feisty, until covid came into the care home where she lived. it started to go from one person to three people, to five people and you then started to just think, "my goodness, they're "not going to be able to stop this." they had the residents locked in their room. i felt helpless. that solitary confinement in the room... i wonder if ada felt abandoned at that point in time. ada died onjune 3rd. she hadn't seen her family since march. these are human beings, these are people, with families. they have lives, they're notjust numbers, this is a life that's gone. and the impact is huge. as summer continued, there was some semblance of normality. packed beaches, foreign holidays, people were encouraged to eat out to help 0ut. every single day, though, there were covid deaths.

the numbers were much lower. on september 1st, three people died. but, once again, that number started to climb. there were over 700 deaths in september and more than 5,000 in october. across the uk, there were new restrictions, but the death rate stayed stubbornly high in november, often with more than 400 people dying a day. dean matthews was 42 years old. his wife says he was a big kid who lived for his family. even when he had to call out an ambulance, she thought he'd be ok. just said, "see you later." i didn't hug him, i didn't kiss him, just expecting _ a couple of days in hospital. i sent him a selfie and then he said, "there she is, "my gorgeous girl." and i think that was the last... that was the last time i really spoke to him. that was it, really, wasn't it? dean died within 18 days of getting a tickly cough. he had five children, the youngest is just seven. he keeps saying, like, "mum, i my head can't understand, like,

why "he's not coming back," sort of thing. _ we're still at the point. where we kind of struggle to think, like, why dean? around a month before christmas, we were told that we'd be able to have festive bubbles, but the increase in deaths was still speeding up. by december 12th, covid had claimed more than 65,000 lives. mum! # happy birthday to you!# including 50—year—old madula sarwar. she and her husband both caught covid at the same time. the day that mum went into the icu, so the day that mum went on a ventilator, dad was also admitted. my wife was there in the same building, you know, on another floor. and she wasjust fighting for her life. and you think of all the things... i'm ok. i'm 0k. you think of all the things that, like, you're going to miss. sarwar recovered, but his wife

was critically ill for weeks. i had a diary of every day, every day, morning and afternoon, you know? everything isjust written here. including the day medics said sarwar, rasheeq, and his 14—year—old brother could come and say goodbye. "the doctor was very sorry to say that the time has now come to an end." that was the last time i saw her. and she was so beautiful. she was so pretty. she was so beautiful, the way she was looking when she came to my life, 31 years back. so, that's the most precious memory i have. by new year's eve, the death toll had reached 76,000. now, it's taken just a few more weeks to get to 100,000. and this is not over yet. voices echo: it's a loss that should never have happened, _ it should never have gotten to that scale. it's notjust 100,000 people, it's100,000 people whose families are going to miss them for the rest

of their lives. the echoing voices ofjust a few of the families grieving for loved ones since the pandemic struck in march last year. as we mentioned earlier, the prime minister says he is "deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and takes full responsibility for everything the government has done". speaking in downing street, he said the government had done everything it could to minimise the loss of life. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has more on the response. a strange and frightening drumbeat first emerged. there have now been four deaths from coronavirus in the uk... then a horrible and familiar rhythm. 759 have sadly died... 5,300. 16,600... 39,728 have now died. the soundtrack of a crisis nearly a year in the making, a terrible crescendo towards today. i'm sorry to have to tell you that today, the number of deaths recorded

from covid in the uk has surpassed 100,000. and it's hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic. around a third of those who've fallen victim to the disease are among the most vulnerable, the most elderly, in care homes, cut off from the outside. twice patients came into ty�*s homes with covid without a test, bringing the worst. this thing came in mercilessly... seven residents died in a week. these people aren't numbers, they're family, they are people we look after, we care for. i'm sorry, i get emotional about it, but it's just devastating. what's it been like foryou, personally? stopping's not an option, is it? i mean, you know, we're dealing with people's lives here, you do whatever it takes, you don't stop. and the cost of the close—down to try to slow the spread of the disease has broken

all the wrong records. anna in essex was first, one of millions put on furlough, then redundant, now on the search for a job, sometimes competing with 200 others. it was frightening. you know, i went from sort of hero to zero overnight. this time last year, we might have been sitting planning what... where we were going to go on holiday. now, i'm worried about putting the heating on, you know, it's a real... real worrying times. the pandemic�*s absorbed almost all the government's time and focus, but whether on adequate equipment, testing or lockdown itself, ministers have been accused again and again of being too slow at the start. there is a strong sense, i think, that our government has been behind the curve at every stage. that there has been, if you like, a reluctance to take tough decisions when they needed to be taken. no government's ever grappled with a problem quite like this, but hoping for the best, the country's experiences are near the worst.

prime minister, near the start the hope in government was to contain the numbers to 20,000. it's now five times that. what went so wrong? i'm 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. 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. the appearances in downing street, the announcements of the daily toll, they feel like a terrible routine. but right now, in these dark days, how the government is run and how we live is hardly normal. not normal at all. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. since the beginning of the pandemic,

almost a quarter of a million people in the uk have been admitted to hospital with covid. more than 37,000 are in hospital at the moment. the chief medical officer for england, professor chris whitty, has warned that the death toll and pressure on hospitals will remain high for some weeks before the effects of the vaccine begin to be felt. 0ur health editor hugh pym visited king's mill hospital in mansfield to meet staff and patients there. machine beeps every day in intensive care is a daunting challenge for staff as they strive to keep patients alive. some of the shifts that i have had are the toughest i've ever had. in particular, one night shift that i had last week was one of the worst shifts i've had in 21 years of nursing. from experience, i can tell you that i'm seeing more sicker patients this time than i saw in the first wave.

doctors are trained to deal with death, but nothing like this. umar has had to cope with the savage impact of covid, both in hisjob and at home. my parents have got covid. my mother—in—law is in icu at the moment and ijust lost some very dear family relatives from covid, so when you see these patients in the hospital, it just gives you that flash back, as well. but you've got to shut that down and you've got to continue looking after your patients as best as you can. it'sjust so sad, you know, because, for every person that dies, |we know there's a family that's not| been able to do the normal things that they would do for that - loved one who has died. edith is a hospital chaplain. she has to face up to grief most days, comforting the dying and their families, but also supporting staff who feel the losses intensely. whenever you've got lots - of people dying on the ward,

it comes at a huge cost to the staff, as well- as to the families. gary has been a hospital porter for 27 years. it is emotionally draining. we move poorly people and then obviously we have to move deceased people. diane is a cleaner. she is on the covid front line as much as anyone. i think if you could see the light at the end of the tunnel and somebody to say, it's going to turn off, then that would be brilliant, but we soldiering on and trying our best to work as hard as we possibly can. how do you feel, personally, sometimes? me? upset. i go home sometimes and i could just sit and cry. and it'sjust because it's such a... you know, it's demanding at the moment. there have been more than 400 covid deaths at the hospital but here and across the nhs, prospects for patients are improving. the medication and the care has changed dramatically— over the last year,

and whilst the volume people being diagnosed with covid . is higher than it was, - we are seeing fewer patients dying and fewer patientsl going into intensive care. people need to know it is not a game. it is frightening. barbara lived with cancer before it went into retreat. they're brilliant, lovely nurses. then she was struck by covid. she was keen to get this message across. just wear your mask and wash your hands. that's all it is, isn't it? it's all they've got to do. barbara died yesterday. herfamily wanted us to use her interview to warn of the serious consequences of covid. 0ur our thanks to mrs roberts family for

allowing us to include her in tonight's report. so, let's look at the latest government figures — the good news is there's been another fall in the number of new cases. there were 20,089 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period which means that on average the number of new cases reported per day in the last week is 31,843. hospital numbers remain very high — across the uk an average of 37,561 people were in hospital with coronavirus over the seven days to sunday. 1,631 deaths were reported, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test — that's the second highest daily death toll so far. on average in the past week 1,242 deaths were announced every day. that takes the total number of uk deaths to 100,162 — the highest in europe — the fifth highest in the world.

let's also take a look at the vaccination numbers. 279,757 people have had theirfirst dose of one of the three approved covid—19 vaccines in the latest 24 hour period. taking the overall number of people who've had their firstjab to more than 6.8 million. now that we have seen the figures and we saw the prime minister was saying earlier, let's talk to laura kuenssberg in westminster. we had the apology from the prime minister and then, of course, this rather grim warning from professor christ whitty about the weeks ahead. that’s whitty about the weeks ahead. that's ri . ht and whitty about the weeks ahead. that's right and it's — whitty about the weeks ahead. that's right and it'sjust _ whitty about the weeks ahead. that's right and it'sjust a _ whitty about the weeks ahead. that's right and it'sjust a terrible _ right and it's just a terrible landmark, isn't it? when we started talking about coronavirus so many months ago we could not have imagined we would reach a total like this and that the prime minister gave his repeated condolences to people who have lost loved ones but he has been notably reluctant to

talk about what might have known gone wrong vowing he and the government have done everything they could. he cannot sweep away the long list of issues raised over the months, whether that was the difficulty getting hold of gloves and masks on ppe at the start, arguments about quarantining travellers still going on in whitehall tonight or whether or not the repeated questions about whether the repeated questions about whether the lockdowns have come too late. everyone hopes in the next couple of months the disease will lose its hold even if that happens slowly, that vaccines will keep going into peoples arms at the very speedy rate that has been happening in this country. but, you know, so much has happened, the government has borrowed and spent enormously and grown hugely to try to prop up the economy and many people say that spending has been effective and there have been so many tensions between so many parts of the uk that even once the health emergency has faded, many of the marks of this epidemic will be indelible on the

way the country is.— way the country is. laura, many thanks. laura _ way the country is. laura, many thanks. laura kuenssberg - way the country is. laura, many thanks. laura kuenssberg with. way the country is. laura, many i thanks. laura kuenssberg with her analysis of westminster. the virus was first detected in the city of wuhan in china a little over a year ago, late in 2019. the outbreak spread quickly across the world in the first months of 2020 and was declared a global pandemic by the world health organization on march 11th. so, how does the uk death toll compare with rest of the world? and what can explain why some countries have been hit by the pandemic so much harder than others? 0ur science editor david shukman reports. the pandemic has touched every nation. the virus claiming lives as it has spread across the globe. despite the arrival of vaccines, the toll continues to be heavy. more than 2 million people around the world have now died of covid so far but some countries have suffered far more than others and the best way to measure

that is to look at the number of deaths in relation to the size of the population. so, vietnam, new zealand, australia and norway have seen ten deaths orfewer per 100,000 people. in fact, more than half the countries of the world have recorded losses at this relatively low level. denmark, germany, poland and many others have lost more but brazil, the us, italy and the uk are among those with the greatest losses of all, at least 100 covid deaths for every 100,000 people. so, what might explain this? a key question is the government response and how fast it was. some countries were quick to enforce social distancing and other measures, like masks, for example. and the results have been clear. there is a lot more virus per 100,000 population in the uk and the us, in my view, than there is in some of the east asian countries which have reacted more rapidly

and robustly when the outbreak started. planning for the pandemic is another factor and how effective those preparations were. countries hit by the sars virus back in 2003 learnt lessons and got ready. so did nations struck by ebola. britain provided them with expertise and finance to help look out for the next disease. we financed those institutions that help to respond to outbreaks. yet we really don't listen to our own advice so we didn't listen to the institutions that we finance that then said to do this you need to implement effective track and trace and do that quickly, swiftly as possible. and then there's the controversial question of borders and were they closed. many countries did shut their frontiers but the advice from the world health organization was to keep them open because by then the virus would have slipped through anyway. but that guidance was often ignored.

some states did it. states such as new zealand, australia, they did it and it benefited them. in terms of minimising the risk of infection from those coming outside of the country. so, it really raises this question of what this advice around borders coming from the world health organization effective and did it harm those countries that didn't close off its borders? how different countries have responded will be examined for years to come but, right now, the struggle against the virus is far from over. david shukman, bbc news. the uk government has said that a dispute between vaccine manufacturers and the eu will not affect supplies here and warned against what they called "vaccine nationalism". the european union has warned that drug companies that export to countries outside the union, including the uk, would be monitored. 0ur correspondent nick

beake is in brussels. what has triggered the row, and what impact could it have? meiji. what has triggered the row, and what impact could it have?— impact could it have? well, this international— impact could it have? well, this international health _ impact could it have? well, this international health crisis - impact could it have? well, this i international health crisis became even more political today because the eu is furious with the makers of the eu is furious with the makers of the 0xford/astrazeneca vaccine who have told eu countries that in the coming weeks they will be receiving far fewer vaccines than promised, tens of millions fewer. tonight the boss of astrazeneca has said this is a consequence of the eu signing its contract three months after the uk did so, for example, they haven't had the same amount of time to iron out production problems on their european sides. the eu is simply not buying this, though, and is vowing to tighten the export of vaccines that are made within the eu so you think of the big pfizer vaccine in belgium, normally lots of those jabs will be going to non—eu countries which includes the united kingdom. borisjohnson saying tonight that he is fully confident in the supply of

vaccines coming into the united kingdom and is urging all countries to work together at this critical time. . ~ . , to work together at this critical time. . , ., the pandemic has prompted the government to intervene in the economy in a way not seen outside wartime. today, unemployment has reached its highest level in nearly five years. many experts say that would be even higher without the furlough scheme subsidising jobs. 0ur economics editor faisal islam explains. this is the lockdown world of work. emma in kent, applying for dozens ofjobs, working and socialising and sleeping all from one room in a shared house. hi, emma, nice to see you. we caught back up with emma, who we first met at the peak of the first wave. she was one of the unemployment statistics until the last few weeks. so, i did have to rely on food banks. i did have to rely on friends and family to lend me money and whatnot. that wasn't the greatest

impact, though. it was the isolation. i'm used to going out to work. to have nothing to focus on, nothing to keep me, you know, sane. it's been a torrid 12 months for workers as large swathes of the economy were shut down in the pandemic. the official measure of unemployment was at 5% for the first time since 2016. while this is still low by the standards of the financial crisis and internationally, the past year has seen unemployment up by 418,000, the highest annual rise since 2009. joblessness is back up and that is particularly affecting young people, the industries they work in tending to be shut, working from home more difficult, hundreds ofjob applications going in, the vast bulk of them not even acknowledged. there is a solution to this and it is in train. the problem — there will be a time lag between vaccinating people and vaccinating the whole economy.

many people can't wait. we haven't seen the worst of it yet. the boss of one of the world's top employment agencies said morejobs are being kept in this latest lockdown. we have clearly light at the end of the tunnel because we are seeing how the vaccines, with all of the difficulties in the roll—out, they're coming through, so we're starting to see that this can come to an end. with the uk economy among the hardest hit last year, of major countries, international experts suggest support forjobs and wages should be extended until the vaccine programme is complete. it will keep the economy in better shape for when you start reopening. so, kind of predictability, certainty about the fact that you will have support is very helpful. back in kent, emma's off universal credit and in a job, but the light at the end of the tunnel for the whole economy is still a few months off. faisal islam, bbc news.

let's take a look at some of today's other news. there's to be an independent inquiry into the use of what were called mother and baby homes in northern ireland. unmarried pregnant young women were sent to the homes, like this one in county down, over a period of 70 years until 1990. the first minister arlene foster said the young women had suffered a "lifetime of trauma" simply for getting pregnant outside of marriage. there have been violent protests by farmers on the streets in delhi. they're protesting against a liberalisation of india's agricultural laws, which they fear will leave them worse off. police fired tear gas and at least one person died. farmers' union leaders distanced themselves from the violence which took place on the country's republic day. the new us presidentjoe biden has had his first phone call with russia's president putin since taking office. mr biden raised concerns about the poisoning of opposition leader alexei navalny

and russian "aggression" against ukraine. today's death toll of more than 100,000 means the uk has the highest number of covid deaths in europe and the fifth highest total in the world. this map shows the areas that have been worst affected in the uk — the darker the colour, the higher the death rate per 100,000. rhondda cynon taf in south wales tops the list for the whole of the uk. the worst affected place in scotland is west dunbartonshire. in england, the worst—affected place is folkestone in kent. our home affairs editor mark easton examines the causes of so many deaths in another of the uk's badly—hit places — blackpool in lancashire. in the year since covid first swept across britain's shoreline, it has killed 100,000 people, among the worst death rates of any

country in the world. the corner of northwest england around blackpool has proved particularly vulnerable. so, could this part of lancashire help explain why britain has been so battered by the virus? there are political questions, of course — too little, too late, is the criticism. but the germs of this pandemic catastrophe were here long before covid washed up. the poorer you are, the more likely it is that covid will kill you. and while britain is a rich country, it's also a very unequal one. the virus death rate in england's most deprived neighbourhoods is 2.5 times higher than in the richest areas, and this part of lancashire has some of the poorest communities in western europe. cath powell works with a charity that delivers food and blankets and hope to what she calls the left behind on blackpool's grange park estate. hi, angela!

how are you today?