A review of how the death toll from the British coronavirus was calculated shows that the total death toll from the virus was too high. Following the assessment, the UK government announced that the total death toll from the virus was 41,329 on 12 August. The previous figure was 46,706, meaning a 12 percent drop in total deaths.
The UK Government has now introduced another method for calculating COVID-19 deaths as a result of the review findings.
The new definition of a coronavirus death is one that dies 28 days after a positive diagnosis.
The new measure also brings England’s calculations into line with other UK nations.
Previously, the United Kingdom counted every death that occurred after a positive diagnosis as a COVID-19 death, regardless of cause.
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Professor John Newton, Director of Health Improvement at Public Health England, defended the original method of calculating deaths.
He said: “The way we count deaths among people with COVID-19 in England was originally chosen to prevent deaths caused by the virus in the early stages of the pandemic.”
Now, the new method of calculating deaths would “provide crucial information on recent trends and the overall mortality rate due to COVID-19”.
PHE has also argued that there is no direct way to calculate coronavirus deaths.
Prof Keith Neal, Emeritus Professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, hailed the two new measures as ‘sensible’.
He added: “The 28 days are widely used in many countries and England is now the same as the rest of the UK.
“The previous measure of always being a COVID death, even if recovered, was scientific.
“As COVID deaths fall, the number of recovering patients, particularly the very elderly and those with severe underlying conditions, now dies from these conditions and not COVID-19.”
Prof Neal went on to say that non-coronavirus death in survival would have become a greater statistic in English deaths, and “was essentially useless for epidemiological monitoring”.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock ordered the assessment of the extra death last month.
Analysis of data in England found 96 per cent of deaths occurred within 60 days if had COVID-19 on death certificate.
Within 28 days, 88 percent of deaths were caused by the virus.
Overall, the UK has seen a total of 315,564 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
