Advertisement

UK coronavirus death toll shocking, not known when peak will be - Gove

Britain's Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove speaks at a digital news conference on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at 10 Downing Street in London

LONDON (Reuters) - The number of people in Britain who have died as a result of the coronavirus outbreak is shocking and it is not possible to predict when the peak of the epidemic will come, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Tuesday.

"The increase in the number of deaths is deeply shocking, disturbing (and) moving," Gove said at a news conference after the number of deaths rose 27% to 1,789.

"There's not a fixed a moment in time, there's not a fixed date, like Easter, when you know that the peak will come. It depends on the actions of all of us. We can delay that peak, we can flatten the curve through our own particular actions."

(Reporting by William James, Andy Bruce and Elizabeth Howcroft, writing by Alistair Smout, editing by Estelle Shirbon)