Excess deaths in UK during coronavirus pandemic rise to more than 63,000

The Government is pressing ahead with some of its plans to ease lockdown, confirming that non-essential shops will be allowed to open from next Monday.

But with every Tuesday come the grim figures from the Office for National Statistics revealing the full extent of the grief this virus has caused – today telling us that excess deaths, those above the normal average, are more than 63,000 across the country up to the end of May.