The United Kingdom now has more deaths related to coronavirus than any other country in Europe. The BBC is now reporting 29,427 deaths in UK. Italy now ranks as the second-highest with 29,315 deaths. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called it “a massive tragedy” (watch above).

Speaking at the daily coronavirus briefing, Mr Raab said the 29,427 lives lost was “a massive tragedy” the country has “never seen before… on this scale, in this way”.

But he would not be drawn on international comparisons, saying: “I don’t think we will get a real verdict on how well countries have done until the pandemic is over, and particularly until we get comprehensive international data on all cause mortality.”

Just as there is in the United States, people are trying to figure out what led to a higher death toll. The New Yorker writes that’s “the most obvious misstep by Boris Johnson’s government was its hesitation to implement a national lockdown to slow the spread of the virus.”

At the center of it all, inevitably, has been the figure of Johnson. The Prime Minister made light of the virus, caught the virus, became dangerously ill with covid-19, was admitted to intensive care, recovered after seven days in the hospital, moved to his countryside retreat to recuperate, and last week celebrated the birth of a son, Wilfred, who is his fifth or sixth child. Johnson is a remarkable politician. He wills himself to the center of things with a determination that, on occasion, even he must find alarming.