Covid: Families remember their loved one as UK Covid death toll passes 100,000
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Geraint Vincent
Behind the stark statistic of 100,000 UK coronavirus deaths lie countless memories and stories of the people who have lost their lives to the virus.
It is a virus that has robbed families of futures with their loves ones and brought untold sadness for the relatives, friends and colleagues left behind.
Among the bereaved is Steven Spencer-Hughes who has lost two family members to coronavirus.
His grandmother, 89-year-old June Hughes caught Covid-19 during a routine hospital visit in November.
The family is pretty sure that Kevin - Steven's father and June's son - caught the virus while visiting her in hospital. He passed two and a half weeks ago.
"He was a brilliant, brilliant family man. We had such fun, us kids," Steven said.
"We always felt loved and spoiled. Getting into our teenage years, it was more like four brothers than a dad and three sons."
He added that the situation for his family is "awful" - in part because they cannot meet to grieve together yet.
Steven's relatives are two of 100,000 who have died from the virus. The UK passed this grim milestone on Tuesday, when the government confirmed another 1,631 deaths, bringing the total to 100,162.
Steven pays tribute to his father Kevin
The total death toll for the country is now 100,162 - one of the highest in the world.
Boris Johnson, speaking at a Downing Street press conference, offered his condolences to those who have lost loved ones. He also urged people to stick with the lockdown restrictions.
"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," he said.
Like Steven, Sarah Parker has also lost multiple relatives to Covid-19. Her mother, Margaret, died just before Christmas.
Sarah said she hasn't yet been able to empty Margaret's beloved handbag.
"She loved a handbag. It was the one thing she wanted when she was in the hospital," Sarah said.
Sarah Parker remembers her mother's love for handbags
"I can't bring myself to take the things out of it."
Just one week earlier, Margaret had sat at the bedside of her partner Pete, holding his hand as he died from the virus.
Sarah said her parents stuck to the Covid-19 guidelines at all times, but caught the virus regardless.
Unlike Margaret and Pete, who spent most of the pandemic at home, Kenneth Lambatan was on a ward in London hospital several hours a week.
The 33-year-old nurse died from coronavirus in April. His friend, Via Salinasal, is also a nurse.
She told ITV News, "I have his picture in my bedroom and when I look at him, sometimes I look away.
"I just have this question, 'How are you dead? You're so alive to me and such a big part of my life.'Via added that she sometimes has vivid dreams about Kenneth - she remembers his voice clearly.
Kevin Chadwick was among the first of the 100,000 to die. The virus took him in 24 hours.
His wife, Vicky, said she feels as if half of her life has disappeared.
"We did everything together," she said.
"If we weren't at work, we were always together. It's gone from having someone there constantly to it just being me."
Vicky Chadwick describes her relationship with late husband Kevin
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the 100,000 milestone represents a "national tragedy" and is a "terrible reminder of all that we have lost as a country".
He added: "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.”