UK frees 40 out of 4,000 prisoners scheduled for early release as COVID-19 crisis eases

As the deadly coronavirus outbreak is starting to be contained in the UK, the British government has released 40 of apparently 4,000 prisoners that were identified for an early release. While talking to a media outlet, Britain’s Justice Minister Robert Buckland said on April 30 that the picture is ‘much better’ than the one presented to him a month ago. In another interview, Buckland said that he is confident that the government will be able to meet the target of carrying out 100,000 tests daily in the “next few days”. However, the target was initially expected to be reached by April-end but currently, the UK’s daily test capacity lies at 73,400. 

Meanwhile, as of April 30, UK  reportedly has 138,780 active cases of coronavirus infections and has recorded 26,097 fatalities. In the belief that the UK will soon move the next phase of the pandemic, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had said earlier in a press briefing that the government is currently working on all possible options for the second phase and assured that “there is light at the end of the tunnel”. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been repeatedly cautioning people to practice social distancing to prevent the country from facing another major setback.

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Global death toll 

After originating from China’s “wet markets”, the coronavirus has now claimed 228,505 lives worldwide as of April 30. According to the tally by international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 210 countries and has infected at least 3,232,061 people. Out of the total infections, 1,007,865 have been recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries and the economy is struggling.

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