UK coronavirus: death toll passes 60,000 as 414 more Covid-19 fatalities recorded — as it happened

5 min readDec 5, 2020

UK’s official death toll exceeds 60,000; travel between Wales and areas of UK with high rates banned from Friday. This live blog is now closed — please follow the global live blog for updates

2d agoEarly evening summary

2d ago18:28

Early evening summary

Boris Johnson has said that he expects life to be “much more close to normal” by Easter and that by the summer people will be able to attend big events like weddings. He made the prediction in his latest “People’s PMQs”, when he was responding to questions from a woman with a wedding planning business who said she had lost all her bookings this year. Johnson said a combination of the vaccine, plus mass testing, would make a difference by Easter. He said there would come a point where “life [will be] much more close to normal, which we think will be by Easter”. And by the summer the wedding industry would be alright, he said.

It’s my strong hope and belief that by the summer, one way or the other, whether by vaccination, which I hope and believe we will have delivered by Easter, or by lateral flow testing, we will be in a different world. My hope is that by summer it really will be a different world for the weddings and events industry.

Johnson has said he wishes he had had a better understanding of asymptomatic Covid transmission at the start of the pandemic. Asked during the Q&A about his biggest regrets, he replied:

The truth is in this country we didn’t have that experience that they have in some far eastern countries, of Sars. They had a history of knowing about these very difficult respiratory infections, which we didn’t have. There will be a lot of work to be done at looking at the lessons to be learned.
I think the one thing that I wish I understood in the early days … I just wish we’d realised how much the disease could be transmitted without symptoms. If we’d known that single fact it would have made a big difference to our early response. We do know it now. And that’s why testing is so crucial.

During the Q&A he also hinted that the government would be using tax cuts and deregulation to regenerate the economy next year.

Boris Johnson answering a question at his People’s PMQ’s Photograph: Facebook | @10downingstreet

That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.

Updated at 8.25pm GMT

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2d ago18:28

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UK coronavirus: death toll passes 60,000 as 414 more Covid-19 fatalities recorded — as it happened

UK’s official death toll exceeds 60,000; travel between Wales and areas of UK with high rates banned from Friday. This live blog is now closed — please follow the global live blog for updates

Early evening summary

Written by Bizyutsu Sempa