U.K. reports highest daily COVID-19 death toll since start of the pandemic
08 January 2021
The U.K. on Thursday reported 1,325 new deaths on Thursday, marking its highest daily coronavirus death toll yet.
Why it matters: The massive spike in deaths is in part fueled by a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant that's spreading rapidly throughout the United Kingdom and threatening to overwhelm hospital systems.
Between the lines: The figure is even worse on a per capita basis than the record 4,000 COVID-19 deaths reported in 24 hours in the U.S. On Friday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a "major incident" because of the virus, which has infected 1 in 30 Londoners.
The big picture: The U.K, which is in full lockdown for at least the next six weeks, was the first country in the world to approve and begin administering both the Pfizer vaccine and Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine.
- Earlier Friday, British regulators cleared the Moderna vaccine for emergency use.
- The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) notes that while the new coronavirus variant is more transmissible, there is "no evidence to suggest that the variant has any impact on the severity of disease or vaccine efficacy."
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.