Dominic Raab admitted his "horror" today as Labour worked out at least 27,241 people have now died with coronavirus in the UK.
Boris Johnson's stand-in was confronted at PMQs with the devastating figure - which is higher than the official daily total of deaths.
As of 5pm on Monday, 21,678 people have died in UK hospitals after testing positive for coronavirus.
But more than 5,000 on top of that have died in care homes, at home and other settings around the country.
"That makes a total to date of 27,241 recorded deaths from coronavirus and that's probably an underestimate because of the time lag," Keir Starmer told the Commons.
Labour's leader slammed Boris Johnson for hailing the UK's "apparent success" in fighting Covid-19 on Monday.
And he said "deaths in care homes appear to have been rising even while hospital deaths have been falling", with 4,343 in two weeks to April 24 ahead of new daily figures to be published from today.
Warning the death toll may be the highest in Europe, Sir Keir told PMQs: "Far from success, these latest figures are truly dreadful."
Foreign Secretary Mr Raab replied: "I absolutely share our joint horror at the number of deaths, tragedies each and every one."
But he said it was “far too early to make international comparisons”.
And Mr Raab shut down Labour's calls to spell out more detail on an exit plan. He snapped: "If he thinks he knows better than SAGE and the scientists... he needs to say."
Last month Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser, said a death toll below 20,000 would be a "good result" but "still horrible".
Sir Keir said: "He said that would be 'good' by which in fairness to him he meant successful in the circumstances.
"But we're clearly way above that number and we're only partway through this crisis.
"We're possibly on track to have one of the worst death rates in Europe."
Responding, Mr Raab said: "This is an unprecedented pandemic, a global pandemic.
"And I think in fairness we shouldn't criticise either the CMO (chief medical officer) or the deputy CMO for trying to give some forecast in response to the questions that many in this chamber and many in the media are calling for."
But Sir Keir went on to slam failures to get vital protective clothing to the front line.
He told MPs: “Lives depend on it.
"It is ten weeks since the HS declared there was a serious and imminent threat to life.
"And you’d hope by now things would be getting better, not worse.
"Yet a survey of the Royal College of Physicians published on Monday reported that 1 in 4 doctors are still not getting the protective equipment they need.”
He added: "What’s going on?" Mr Raab denied things were getting worse and said there was a global demand for PPE.
Boris Johnson returned to work on Monday, but missed PMQs after his fiancee Carrie Symonds gave birth to a baby boy this morning.
Mr Raab told PMQs: “The PM and his fiancee have announced the birth of a healthy baby boy this morning.
“Both mother and baby are doing well and I’m sure the whole house will want to join me in sending congratulations and our very best wishes to them.”
Mr Raab also paid tribute to more than 100 NHS and social care staff who’ve died of coronavirus.
Keir Starmer sent his congratulations, the congratulations of the Labour Party and “everybody in this House” to the PM and Carrie Symonds.
in a heartfelt statement the Labour leader told PMQs: “Whatever differences we have in this house, as human beings, I think we all recognise the anxiety the Prime Minister and Carrie must have gone through in these past few weeks - unimaginable anxiety.
“So I really hope this brings them incredible relief and joy.”
