Britain could hit the grim milestone of 20,000 Covid-19 deaths later today, when the daily count is added to the current toll of 19,506 people who tested positive for the new coronavirus and died in hospital.

Passing the 20,000 mark will be an uncomfortable moment for the government, whose Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said on March 17 that keeping the toll under that number would be “a good outcome in terms of where we would hope to get.”

According to a Reuters report, Britain has the fifth highest official coronavirus death toll in the world, after the United States, Italy, Spain and France. Scientists have said that the death rate will start to decline quickly only in another couple of weeks.