Data collected by the Financial Times shows that the UK has registered 59,537 more deaths than usual since the week ending March 20 – just before the start of the lockdown. It equates to 891 people per million killed directly or indirectly by the deadly virus – a higher death rate than any other country in the world with the same quality of data.

The figures also show that when it comes to the absolute number of excess deaths the UK has recorded the highest in Europe and second only to the US in global terms.

The shocking statistics come as Britain is still recovering from the fallout of the Dominic Cummings saga. More than 60 Tory MPs have reportedly defied PM Boris Johnson’s call to “move on” from the scandal surrounding his special adviser, to speak out against him – with 43 insisting that Cummings must resign or be sacked for flouting a number of lockdown rules.

TV presenter Piers Morgan, who has been a harsh critic of the UK government's response to the coronavirus pandemic, branded the figures “horrifying.” Some suggested that people should stop obsessing over Cummings, as the UK topping the world excess death charts was “a far bigger scandal” and “a total unmitigated disaster.”

However, there were others who did want to point to the PM’s chief aide when it came to who was to blame for the disastrous death toll, with one commenter insisting that “This is the shameful Johnson, [Matt] Hancock, Cummings legacy.”

The paper says that data was compiled from national statistical agencies for 19 countries whose information was good enough to make authoritative comparisons. The figures include all of the European nations hit severely by Covid-19.