Covid-19 Death Stats “Pause” WORRYING

This Government has not displayed the surest of touches when it comes to presenting any kind of statistical evidence relating to the Coronavirus pandemic. The attempted - and failed - sleight of hand over testing numbers was bad enough, but presentation of the numbers dying with Covid-19 has been of a magnitude worse. Only through the careful analysis of those at the FT have we seen the full picture.

And that full picture suggests that alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson and his pals have understated the number of deaths, even after they came clean and included the death numbers “in all settings”. The official death toll stands at over 45,000 - but the actual figure is highly likely to be well over 60,000. So when the DHSC told that it was “pausing” the reporting of deaths, the alarm bells sounded.

The first sign of the latest move came on Friday, as free sheet Metro told readers “Health Secretary Matt Hancock has reportedly called for an urgent review into the way Public Health England (PHE) counts coronavirus deaths. A scientist has realised PHE is ‘over-exaggerating’ the daily coronavirus death toll because it counts people as victims if they die of any cause at any time after testing positive for Covid-19”. There was more.

“Dr Yoon Loke, a pharmacologist at the University of East Anglia … wrote … It seems that PHE regularly looks for people on the NHS database who have ever tested positive, and simply checks to see if they are still alive or not … Anyone who has tested COVID positive but subsequently died at a later date of any cause will be included on the PHE COVID death figures”. The numbers continued to be reported while the review progressed.

But then came news from the Independent that the Government had gone further: “The UK government has halted the publication of the daily number of coronavirus deaths over concerns that ‘statistical flaws’ might be rendering the data inaccurate … The pause in publication was decided by the Department of Health and Social Care after the health secretary, Matt Hancock, ordered a review into the figures”. That is worrying.

Former Director of Public Health John Ashton was not impressed. “This is sinister. The underreporting far outweighs any over counting”. The problem that Hancock and his boss have is that their record on statistical delivery is not good. On top of that, Hancock has just performed a screeching U-Turn on another front in his information war.

As the Observer has reported today, “The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has bowed to pressure from councils, which demanded full access to the names and data of people in their areas who tested positive for Covid-19, and those with whom they have been in contact, in another major government U-turn”. What better way to have the electorate looking over there than to claim that headline data is The One Wot Done It.

Bozo and his pals get to blame someone else (again), they distract from Hancock U-Turning, and the appalling death toll from Covid-19 infections is miraculously reduced.

Then we are told it will all be over by Christmas. But which year is not told.

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