PRIME Minister Boris Johnson has called for people to come together with ‘ever greater resolve’ to defeat coronavirus.

He made the comments during a Covid-19 press conference this afternoon, Tuesday, at Downing Street.

They come following news that the UK’s coronavirus death toll has now passed the 100,000 mark.

According to the latest data, a further 1,631 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the UK total to 100,162.

Mr Johnson said: “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.

“I offer my deepest condolences to everyone who’s lost a loved one: fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, and the many grandparents who have been taken.

“To all those who grieve, we make this pledge: that when we come through this crisis we will come together as a nation to remember everyone we lost and to honour the selfless heroism of all those on the front line who gave their lives to save others.

“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.”

The Prime Minister also pledged to commemorate the ‘genius and perseverance’ of the scientists who have worked tirelessly to discover and produce the vaccines.

He added: “The immense national effort, never seen before in our history, which is now under way to distribute them, is one that has now seen us immunise over 6.8million 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.”

Government data up to January 25 shows of the 7,325,773 jabs given in the UK so far, 6,853,327 were first doses – a rise of 279,757 on the previous day’s figures.

Some 472,446 were second doses, an increase of 1,968 on figures released the previous day.