AN OXFORD University professor has spoken out after the coronavirus death toll reached 10,000 in the UK at the weekend.

Reacting to the latest figures on Covid-19 cases and deaths, Professor James Naismith, the director of Rosalind Franklin Institute, said it was a ‘terrible milestone’.

He added: “Based on experience of previous weeks, today's [Sunday’s] lower number could well arise from reporting delays due to the weekend and bank holiday. If so there may be higher daily numbers next week as delayed reported deaths end up in future announcements.

“Sir Jeremy Farrah stated a harsh reality, in UK, with over 10,000 deaths, is one of the worst-hit countries in Europe. Even this number is an underestimate due to lags in reporting and counting only hospital deaths.”

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The official government figures are based off of people who have died in a hospital after testing positive for coronavirus.

There has been some backlash that the figures are skewed as others die in care homes, their own homes and without a test result.

He went on to explain that every death represents a ‘real person’ saying: “We are not in a macabre competition with other countries, every death, here or elsewhere, leaves a grieving family. We are only approaching the end of the beginning, as Sir Jeremy pointed out we could face future waves before we bring an end to this scourge with a vaccine.”

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He said that more information was now clear, compared to when the UK had some of its first cases, explaining: “We know a lot more about how the virus spreads, the percentage of asymptomatic individuals, our immune response to the virus, the percentage needing hospital care, the length of hospitalisation, how UK society responds to social distancing messaging and the costs (human and financial) of shutting a modern economy.

"Due to an unprecedented effort in science we are seeing hints of medicines that hold out hope of reducing fatalities in the near term and a ramp in testing. These have profoundly changed the situation from what we faced at the outset of the first wave.

"Before taking the next steps, I would expect the Government to take and share the most up to date advice from a range of experts across all relevant fields, to identify what we can do better and to see what lessons from elsewhere can be applied here in time to make a difference."