U.K. surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths

The U.K. on Tuesday surpassed 100,000 coronavirus deaths almost a year after the first two cases were reported in the country, according to government figures.

Why it matters: It is the first European country and fifth country in the world to reach the threshold. The country reported 100,162 deaths on Tuesday.

What he's saying: U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson took "full responsibility" for the deaths.

• "I'm sorry to have to tell you that today, the number of deaths recorded from covid in the U.K. has surpassed 100,000, and it's hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic," Johnson said.
• "The best and most important thing we can all do to honor the memory of those who have died is to work together with ever greater resolve to defeat this disease and that is what we will do."

By the numbers: The U.K. is the fifth country with the most cases with 3,680,134 confirmed as of Tuesday, per Johns Hopkins University data.

The big picture: The U.K. is currently in its third lockdown and battling an increase in infections caused by a new coronavirus variant that is believed to be more transmissible.

• The U.K. became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in December.