The United Kingdom is on a similar level to France, Italy and Spain on COVID-19 deaths per million but Belgium is worse, a junior British health minister said on Thursday.

“If you look at the death rate per 100,000 or per million, actually we are on a similar level to France, Italy, Spain, Belgium is above us, the United States is below,” Edward Argar, a junior health minister, told Sky News.

“Different statistics can be portrayed in different ways,” he said.

The United Kingdom’s COVID-19 death toll now exceeds 40,000, by far the worst yet reported in Europe, according to official British statistics published on Tuesday.

Reuters