England

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain passed the grim milestone of over 20,000 COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, as the daily toll rose 813 to 20,319 people who tested positive for the illness and died in hospital.

Back in mid-March the government’s chief scientific adviser said that keeping the death toll below 20,000 would be a “good outcome”.

The government is facing growing criticism over its response to the new coronavirus pandemic as the death toll rises. Britain was slower to impose a lockdown than European peers and is struggling to raise its testing capacity.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Friday Iran’s launch of a military satellite using ballistic missile technology this week was “of significant concern” and inconsistent with a United Nations Security Council resolution.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on Wednesday for Iran to be held accountable for the launch, and said he believed it defied the Security Council resolution.

LONDON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Another 616 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died in hospitals in Britain as of Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths to 18,738, the Department of Health and Social Care said Thursday.

As of Thursday morning, 138,078 people have tested positive for COVID-19, marking a daily increase of 4,583, said the department.

LONDON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Global economic activity all but ground to a halt this month as government-imposed lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic took a particularly heavy toll on the world’s service industry, surveys showed on Thursday.

The outbreak, which has infected more than 2.6 million people and killed more than 180,000 globally, has also crippled manufacturing, shutting factories and upending supply chains.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday faced a call for an inquiry into his government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis after failing to fully explain partial death data, limited testing or the lack of equipment for hospitals.

The novel coronavirus outbreak, the worst health crisis since the 1918 influenza pandemic, has left governments across the world grappling with stressed populations, a stalled global economy and overloaded health services.

LONDON (Reuters) - The novel coronavirus outbreak has caused as many as 41,000 deaths in the United Kingdom, according to a Financial Times analysis of statistics office data.

The FT extrapolation is based on the number of all fatalities in official data recorded recently that have exceeded the usual average. These figures include deaths that occurred outside hospitals.

The latest hospital death data show 17,337 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus across the United Kingdom as of this Monday.

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose against the Saudi riyal in the forwards market on Wednesday after oil prices slumped, with Brent crude futures dropping to their lowest in more than two decades as the coronavirus pandemic caused demand to collapse.

One-year dollar/riyal forwards rose as high as 264.3 points, their highest since November 2018, Refinitiv data showed.

The Saudi riyal is pegged at 3.75 to the dollar in the spot market, so banks often use the forwards market to hedge against risks.

LONDON (Reuters) - The impact of the coronavirus at the end of March was probably large enough to cause Britain’s economy to shrink in the first quarter of 2020 as a whole, Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane said in a podcast released on Tuesday.

Haldane said he expected a sharp economic contraction in the second quarter and also echoed comments from fellow policymakers Ben Broadbent and Silvana Tenreyro that recovery may prove slow whenever coronavirus restrictions are lifted.

LONDON (Reuters) - Benchmark Brent and U.S. oil futures for June delivery plunged to around two-decade lows on Tuesday, a day after U.S. May futures sank into negative territory for the first time in history as demand tumbled due to the coronavirus crisis.

Brent for June delivery LCOc1, known as the front-month contract after the May futures contract expired, fell to as low as $18.10, its lowest since November 2001. At 1200 GMT, it was down 18% at $20.98.

LONDON (Reuters) - The true extent of Britain’s COVID-19 death toll was more than 40% higher than the government’s daily figures indicated as of April 10, according to data that put the country on track to become among the worst-hit in Europe.

The Office for National Statistics said it recorded 13,121 deaths by April 10 in England and Wales, which account for the vast majority of Britain’s population, compared with 9,288 in the government’s daily toll for those who died in hospital.

The ONS figures include deaths in care homes and hospices as well as in hospitals.