The UK now officially has the highest number of deaths in Europe from coronavirus after new official figures revealed that more than 32,000 people have died from the virus.

The terrible toll now exceeds the Italian number of deaths which stands at 29,029 and until today was Europe’s worst-hit country.

Daniel Zeichner MP said: “This is a sombre moment for reflection but it is clear part of the blame was because the government was slow on going into lock down, slow on testing and on slow on protective equipment. Crucially they appear not to have listened and learned the lessons from other countries. Months ago, I was certainly getting increasingly panic-stricken emails from constituents with links to Italy and other places where the virus struck earlier. So I now urge the government, once again, to listen to voices from around the world, rather than attempt to go it alone. On contact tracing, on testing, on PPE, on exiting the lock down: there is advice we can take from around the globe. Every life lost is a tragedy and we cannot wait until the crisis is over to learn lessons, we must fight to save as many lives as we can now.”