May 9, 2020

expert reaction to latest figures on COVID-19 deaths in England

NHS England have published the latest figure for reported deaths in hospitals in England – an additional 207 deaths since yesterday, bringing the total to 22,971.

Prof Carl Heneghan and Dr Jason Oke, Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine and Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, said:

“Today’s reported figure is 207 deaths in hospitals in England: 29% of the 711 deaths reported on the same day two weeks ago (Saturday 25th of  April). These deaths are distributed back to the 12th of March: 183 (88%) of the deaths were in the last week, and 24 (12%) occurred more than 7 days ago.

For comparison: the reported deaths in hospitals in England on the same weekday 1, 2 and 3 weeks ago were:

• 2nd May: 370 deaths.
• 25th April: 711 deaths
• 18th April: 784 deaths”

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

Declared interests

None received.