April 16, 2020

expert reaction to latest figures on COVID-19 cases and deaths in the UK

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) have announced the latest reported figures for cases (103,093) of and deaths (13,729) from COVID-19 in the UK.

Prof James Naismith, Director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute and University of Oxford, said:

“As expected the Easter weekend has introduced additional volatility into the daily numbers. The rise in numbers of deaths announced today may well have arisen from reporting delays rather than a resumption of rising daily number of deaths. Unfortunately even although this particular measure may hopefully have peaked with the 980 deaths announced on April 10th, we will see many hundreds of hospital deaths announced each day for some weeks ahead. There are still new cases arriving in hospitals and the NHS is still stretched. This morning’s data from the ONS reminds us that the death toll is significantly higher than just the deaths announced in hospital. Passing the peak of announced deaths is a moment to remember the human suffering that has happened and what is still to come.  At best we are at the end of the beginning. We may well have to face other waves of infection before either a reliable cure or a vaccine are discovered. What matters most now and in the immediate future is learning from this wave so that we do better in any subsequent wave.”

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink: www.sciencemediacentre.org/covid-19/

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