PRIME Minister Boris Johnson said tonight that there will be a time when the nation would come together to honour everybody who has lost their lives to Covid-19.

It comes after the UK death total for Covid-19 now stands at 100,162 after it was confirmed that a further 1,631 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of today.

Speaking at a Downing Street Covid briefing this evening, Mr Johnson said: “I’m sorry to have to tell you that today the number of deaths recorded from Covid in the UK has surpassed 100,000.

“It’s hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic: The years of life lost, the family gatherings not attended and for so many relatives the missed chance to even say goodbye.”

Mr Johnson said that the Covid vaccines offer a way out, saying that over 6.8million people in the UK have been vaccinated so far.

The Prime Minister said: “We will remember the courage of countless working people, not just our amazing NHS and care workers, but shop workers, transport staff, pharmacists, teachers, police, armed forces, emergency services, and many others who kept our country going during our biggest crisis since the Second World War.

“We will commemorate the small acts of kindness – the spirit of volunteering and the daily sacrifice of millions who placed their lives on hold, time and again, as we fought each new wave of the virus, buying time for our brilliant scientists to come to our aid.

“In that moment of commemoration, we will celebrate the genius and perseverance of those who discovered the vaccines.

“And the immense national effort, never seen before in our history, which is now under way to distribute them, one that has now seen us immunise over 6.8 million people across the United Kingdom.

“When those vaccines have finally freed us from this virus and put us on a path to recovery, we will make sure we learn the lessons and reflect and prepare.

“Until that time, the best and most important thing we can all do to honour 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.”

Mr Johnson added: “I think on this day I should just really repeat that I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and of course as I was Prime Minister I take full responsibility for everything that the Government has done.

“What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything that we can, to minimise loss of life and to minimise suffering in what has been a very, very difficult stage, and a very, very difficult crisis for our country, and we will continue to do that, just as every government that is affected by this crisis around the world is continuing to do the same.”

Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, highlighted that Sunday marked a year since the first two patients with coronavirus were treated in hospital in Newcastle.

Speaking at the Downing Street press conference he said it would also be a year since the first flight returned from Wuhan in China with people returning to the UK being quarantined at Arrowe Park Hospital.

He added: “It’s a year in which over a quarter of a million severely ill coronavirus patients have been looked after in hospital."

Sir Simon said: “This is not a year that anybody is going to want to remember nor is it a year that across the health service any of us will ever forget.”

Prof Chris Whitty said that “unfortunately we’re going to see quite a lot more deaths over the next few weeks before the effects of the vaccines begin to be felt”.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer described the large number of deaths as 'a national tragedy and a terrible reminder of all that we have lost as a country'.

He added: “We must never become numb to these numbers or treat them as just statistics.

"Every death is a loved one, a friend, a neighbour, a partner or a colleague. It is an empty chair at the dinner table.

“To all those that are mourning, we must promise to learn the lessons of what went wrong and build a more resilient country. That day will come and we will get there together.

“But for now we must remember those that we have lost and be vigilant in the national effort to stay at home, protect our NHS and vaccinate Britain.”