UNN’s Oliver Down has learnt that nearly a quarter of registered Covid-19 deaths in the UK are now people who are not being killed with the virus and not by it. These new official figures have emerged as Boris Johnson comes under increased pressure from Tory backbenchers to end the third lockdown sooner than planned.
The latest data, released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that 23 per cent of coronavirus deaths which are registered are now people who have died ‘with’ the disease rather than ‘from’ an infection. The UK currently records a Coronavirus death if a person has died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test. This has meant that some who has died will have tested positive for Covid-19 at some point, but that the disease was not recorded as the victim’s primary cause of death on their death certificate.
On Tuesday the 13th of April just 23 deaths were announced. However, the Prime Minister is still continuing to resist calls from his own party to lift all coronavirus curbs ahead of schedule. He has stated that cases will rise in the coming weeks as people meet with friends and family in pubs and parks. Outdoor hospitality and non-essential retail reopened on Monday under the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown.
Conservative backbenchers such as Steve Baker and Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs have now mounted a campaign to get the country opened up sooner than planned. The Prime Minister promised a roadmap out of lockdown based on ‘data not dates’. Professor Carl Heneghan whop is the director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, has said: ‘All the data is highly reassuring. There is becoming a case over the next couple of weeks to bring forward the reopening of hospitality, but that’s offset with caution around big events. The issue is as we go about our daily lives, there will be a slight increase in cases, but the key is not to panic. I think this over-cautiousness can be overcome by using a data-driven approach.’
Current Affairs Correspondent | My name is Oliver Down I am 22, and a staunch brexiteer. I am a Bristolian lad who studied politics in Leicester. I believe in free speech and accurate journalism and I won’t be afraid to give you “the other side” of the story!
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