Excess Death Figures Paint a Clearer Picture of COVID-19 Mortality

Figures from the Office of National Statistics report 1,653 more non-coroanvirus related deaths than would normally be expected in England and Wales for the week ending May 29th. This equates to a 20% increase in deaths not involving COVID, down from 24% the week before.

Furthermore, deaths that would normally have occurred in hospitals are instead occurring in care homes and private homes.

It does at least appear that the situation is improving, as data from the Covid Symptom Tracker app suggests that fewer than 5,000 people in Britain are being infected each day – half compared with the previous week. This finding is supported by a random swab test survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics. However, Northern Ireland and, crucially, care homes (where the virus is still thought to be spreading) were not included in this survey, meaning that the true number is likely to be much higher.