London mayor claims UK is 'nowhere near' lifting its coronavirus lockdown after country records highest daily death toll to date

Sadiq Khan says Britain is still a week-and-a-half away from Covid-19 peaking in the country, one day after 854 people lost their lives to the virus, with 224 of those in the capital alone.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today program, the mayor claimed the government is "nowhere near" ending the lockdown and re-iterated his plea for Londoners to stay at home as the city remains the country's worst-affected area.

I speak to experts regularly, we think the peak, which is the worst part of the virus, is probably a week and a half away.

A total of 854 deaths were recorded in the UK yesterday, with 224 reported in London alone, taking the total to 6,159. Among the dead are 14 Transport for London staff, who have been classed as key workers to keep services running in the capital. 

The news comes hot on the heels of a study suggesting the UK would have the highest death rate in Europe, accounting for more than 40 percent of the continent's dead, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) in Seattle.

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