UK-related COVID-19 deaths exceed 60,000, according to Financial Times



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UK-related COVID-19 deaths exceed 60,000, according to Financial Times

By
Robert Stevens

May 13, 2020

The true death toll from COVID-19 in Britain is more than 60,000, almost double the figure claimed by the Johnson government, according to studies based on new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Yesterday, the government reported another 627 deaths in its daily briefing, bringing the official deaths to 32,490. Their figures are compiled by the Department of Health and Social Care and only include deaths where a person has tested positive for COVID-19. A further 3,403 new coronavirus infections were reported, bringing the total infections to 226,463.

The conservatively manipulated official numbers for conservatives remain the highest in Europe and only exceed the United States globally. But the ONS reported yesterday that in the week ending May 1, 17,953 deaths were recorded in England and Wales, 8,012 more than the average for the past five years during the same week. In the six weeks after the pandemic, the ONS recorded 108,345 deaths for the two countries, 46,494 more than the five-year average. Of these, 35,044 were recorded as coronavirus deaths, several thousand more than the government’s own figures.

the Financial times, which has tracked “excess deaths” to come up with its own “conservative estimate,” reported yesterday’s ONS data “represented the seventh consecutive week that deaths exceeded normal levels and once equivalent figures from Scotland were included. and Northern Ireland, total UK mortality during the 50,979 “pandemic is taken into account.

He concluded: “The FT model now estimates that just over 60,000 more people will have died than normal since the outbreak began until May 11, based on excess deaths to date and the latest daily figures for hospital deaths.” .

The ONS figures show the horrible number of deaths in nursing homes. In the week ending May 1, 6,409 deaths of people in nursing homes were recorded. This is more than three times the normal rate of 2,019 nursing home death records in England and Wales in the past five years.

Since the start of the pandemic, the ONS has recorded 19,900 more deaths in care homes than usual for the time of year in England and Wales. The FT reports: “Evidence is growing that the virus was planted among the most vulnerable and frail and elderly in social care after hospitals discharged sick people into the care system without being do a COVID-19 test to develop capacities in hospitals that did not exist at the time necessary. “

the Times He concluded that “the death toll from coronavirus may already be 61,000 … up to 50 percent higher than official figures.” Their modeling is also based on the number of excess deaths reported to “take into account direct coronavirus deaths and those who have died for related reasons, including those who did not seek treatment for other conditions.” He concludes that modeling based on excessive death figures is the most accurate and “shows us that an abnormally high number are dying due to the epidemic, either directly or indirectly.”

the Times He estimates that since the pandemic started on May 1, there have been “50,976 excess deaths across the UK: 46,556 in England and Wales, 3,716 in Scotland and 704 in Northern Ireland.” Because it takes about four days to record death, “most of those deaths will have occurred before April 27.”

Recognizing that the exact number of COVID-19 deaths outside of hospitals is unknown, and according to the estimate “that between 40 and 60 percent of all COVID-19 deaths occur in hospitals,” the Times The analysis “expanded the hospital information to better fit the latest figures for the number of excess deaths.”

The newspaper reports: “[W]We have conservatively estimated the death toll for the past four days assuming that [the death toll in England and Wales] it’s about 60 percent of what it was a week ago. This process was repeated in Scotland and Northern Ireland, giving us a total of 61,000 excess deaths in the UK. “

the Times noted that “Our model is also subject to periodic reviews: yesterday [Monday] We estimate that today’s ONS launch would show another 7,000 excess deaths, when in fact the total was 8,000. “

According to the Daily mail, at least 45,550 have died in the UK directly from coronaviruses, according to an estimated mortality rate from infection that could reach 1.73 percent. Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia believes that COVID-19 could cause up to 560,000 deaths in the UK if half the population were infected.

The ONS figures were released when Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the UK’s licensing plan would last until the end of October. The government will continue to pay 80 percent of the wages of at least 7 million workers (about a fifth of the entire workforce), in a continuing blessing for corporations, up to a monthly limit of £ 2,500.

Extending the scheme for four months, Sunak announced that by November “we will have provided eight months of support to British people and companies.” The Job Retention Plan (JRS) is another grant for large companies that has already cost at least £ 14bn a month. Sunak noted, “We have provided billions of pounds of cash subsidies, tax cuts, and loans to more than 1 million companies, tens of billions of pounds of deferred taxes …” What he did not say was that many of the largest corporations, including more than a quarter of the 250 FTSE companies are also wallowing in this government generosity.

Sunak made it clear that the scheme will remain as it is until the end of July, but will be modified from August to the end of October to “provide more flexibility to support the transition back to work.” Thereafter, “we will ask for that employers begin to share with the government the cost of paying people’s wages. “

The suggestion is that Sunak will cut the government’s contribution to paying the license to 60 percent, while asking employers to collect 20 percent from their own pockets.

After wishing Sunak “a happy birthday” in parliament, Scottish National Party shadow chancellor Alison Thewliss tweeted in response to Sunak’s announcement: “After July, support under JRS appears to drop to 60 percent and companies will have to meet 20 percent. This will be problematic for many companies struggling to survive and accumulating debt. “

Businesses will almost certainly refuse to make up for the 20 percent deficit.

Sunak said the government will resolve the “technical details of implementing the part-time work permit” in the coming days. For a long time, the Labor Party and unions insisted on this, in their discussions with the government on how to enforce a “massive return to work.”

In her response, Labor Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said: “I appreciate the flexibility mentioned. We have repeatedly asked for it; it applies in many other countries “and stated:” Will the chancellor work with me, the unions, the companies, the local authorities “in the scheme?

In the name of the union bureaucracy, Len McCluskey retweeted a message from the Unite union supporting the conservatives and claiming that the Johnson government that worships Thatcher can be trusted to protect workers in alliance with big business. It said: “We will have to look at the details when they are published, but today’s announcement is a message again to employers that the government will back them up if they back their workers. There should be no rush for the layoffs.”

The Trade Union Congress said of Sunak’s measures: “Fundamentally, the chancellor responded to TUC calls for greater flexibility in the scheme by announcing that, as of August, organizations could have suspended part-time workers for restart your business. “

The author also recommends:

The UK COVID-19 death rate is much higher in the working class

[12 May 2020]

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