It’s a grim news week for the government with Dominic Raab announcing in Tuesday’s press conference that the UK coronavirus death toll is now at 29,427 (ONS figures suggest the number of deaths is as high as 32,313). This means that according to official figures from each country, the UK has overtaken Italy in fatalities and currently has the highest death toll in Europe.
However, at the press conference, Raab suggested such a conclusion was ‘speculation’ and warned against early international comparisons on the grounds that there are differences in the way various countries’ record coronavirus deaths and excess deaths with the size of the population also needing to be taken into account:
I don’t think we’ll get a real verdict on how well countries have done until the pandemic is over and particularly until we’ve got comprehensive international data on all cause of mortality. We now publish data that includes all deaths in all settings and not all countries do that so I’m not sure that the international comparison works unless you reliably know that all countries are measuring in the same way.
‘I think we have the best reporting, most transparent reporting and the most timely reporting’
This echoes comments by Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and his deputy Jenni Harries warning against early comparisons. While
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in