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CONTRIBUTION IN ORIGINAL LANGUAGE
During the current global crisis, all eyes are on the daily death toll. But can we trust these statistics?
If you look at the daily number of Covid-19 deaths in the UK, the data doesn’t show who actually died from Covid-19. The NHS data refer to patients who died in hospital in England and tested positive for COVID-19. Even if there was another pre-existing disease such as COPD or cancer, death is considered a Covid-19 death if someone has tested positive for Covid-19.
The National Statistics Office (ONS) publishes weekly deaths in which “COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate” and cases in which “COVID-19 is suspected but no formal diagnostic test has taken place”.
This means that in the UK and around the world, a Covid-19 death is considered a person who either died after testing Covid-19 (not necessarily because of the virus) or “probably” had the virus.
Not every Covid 19 death is actually caused by Covid
Official figures say that “in March 2020, around 86% of COVID-19 deaths in England and Wales (ie with COVID-19 anywhere on the death certificate) governed COVID-19 as the underlying cause of death,” according to the ONS.
But: “Of the COVID-19 deaths in March 2020, there was at least one pre-existing condition in 91% of the cases,” said the ONS.
Did these people actually die from Covid – or from their existing health conditions?
“Almost 10% of those over 80 will die next year,” quoted BBC Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter of the University of Cambridge, “and the risk that they will die if they are infected with coronavirus is almost exactly the same . ”
“This does not mean that there will be no additional deaths – but, according to Sir David, there will be a” significant overlap “.”
“Many people who die from Covid would have died within a short time anyway,” he was quoted as saying.
Health risks from blocking
The BBC also quoted Prof. Robert Dingwall of Nottingham Trent University, who said that it was certainly “collateral damage” from other factors such as “mental health problems and suicides associated with self-isolation, heart problems due to lack of activity, and the effects of increased unemployment on health “Will give and reduced standard of living. “
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