On 12 May, the government stopped publishing international comparisons of its Covid-19 death toll in the daily press briefings. The argument was that the data wasn’t helpful, and perhaps even misleading: the way calculations were carried out varied country-by-country, with each nation on a different timescale when experiencing the peak of infections and death. There would be a time for international comparisons, but that time wasn’t now.
Today, the ONS picks up where the press briefings left off, comparing excess mortality rates throughout Europe. The data is not specifically calculating Covid-19 deaths, but rather all causes of mortality on a five-year average. This is the metric the UK’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty described as ‘key’ for determining how successful the government is at handling the crisis.
Excess deaths was the metric the UK’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty described as ‘key’
But the data revelations do not bode well for Britain. So far, England has the highest number of excess deaths in Europe, and the second-highest national peak of excess deaths: ‘The highest peak excess mortality was in Madrid at 432.7
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