Coronavirus tracked: UK now has more daily deaths than rest of Europe combined

Over last seven days, UK has averaged 293.3 deaths per day, while EU’s average over same time period was 255.7 deaths

The UK now has more new deaths from the Covid-19 coronavirus than the rest of Europe combined, despite its population being just one seventh of the size.

New figures revealed that the seven-day average for daily deaths in the UK overtook the seven-day average for daily deaths in every country in the European Union combined on Monday.

Over the last seven days, the UK has averaged 293.3 deaths per day, while the EU’s average over the same time period was 255.7 deaths.

The latest development comes despite the UK announcing the lowest daily rise in deaths from coronavirus since before the lockdown began on 23 March.

Government figures on Monday showed that 55 people died as of 5pm on Sunday after testing positive for the deadly virus.

The latest deaths take the UK’s official total death toll to 40,597 — though the actual figure is estimated to be much higher.

Only the United States has more confirmed deaths than the UK, with a total of more than 112,000.

Despite having the highest death toll in Europe, the UK's figures are not the worst when considered on a per capita basis.

By this measure, Belgium — with a population of 11.46 million and a death toll of 9,595 — has the highest number of total confirmed deaths per million people in Europe.

Reports last week claimed that “the UK has more daily deaths from Covid than the rest of the EU put together”, however this was based on inaccurate data.

The widely reported claim used the death toll from a single day, which did not include deaths in Spain due to the way fatalities are recorded in the country.

Another cause for anomalies in using data from individual days is a lag in reporting deaths over the weekend. This means the UK’s figure of 55 deaths on Sunday may have been much higher.

Taking a rolling seven-day average gives a much more representative view of a country’s daily death toll, though differences between how countries record deaths mean there may still be discrepancies.