Coronavirus

[Muddy Retriever]

It is very difficult to find the death rate using the previous criteria - I challenge you to find the numbers who died after 28 days with a positive test, and those where Covid was on the death certificate but the test was negative or not done. We are being manipulated - with the economy being the reason - politics is about manipulation, and sometimes it is for the overall good. Whether this manipulation of the numbers is a good thing is of course a matter of opinion.

How would you record it Mike?

28 days brings England into line with the other countries of the UK and it is certainly far better than the old system where nobody was ever assumed to recover. The infection fatality rate would have eventually been 100%, which I hope you agree is ridiculous. The death toll would have continued going up and up even when nobody was getting Covid anymore. Apparently, 88% of Covid deaths occur within 28 days of the first positive swab so the figures are not going to be massively out.

https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3220

We also have the ONS weekly measure, which is based on what is stated on the death certificate. This includes where Covid is suspected even if no test has been done.