[1andrew1]

UK suffers highest death rate from coronavirus

FT analysis of data from 19 countries finds Britain hit hardest, ahead of US, Italy, Spain and Belgium.

The UK has suffered the highest rate of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic among countries that produce comparable data, according to excess mortality figures. The UK has registered 59,537 more deaths than usual since the week ending March 20, indicating that the virus has directly or indirectly killed 891 people per million.

At this stage of the pandemic, that is a higher rate of death than in any country for which high-quality data exist. The absolute number of excess deaths in the UK is also the highest in Europe, and second only to the US in global terms, according to data collected by the Financial Times.

The country fares no better on another measure: the percentage increase in deaths compared with normal levels, where the UK once again is the worst hit in Europe and behind only Peru internationally.

I think the second sentence is an important point:

David Spiegelhalter, Winton professor of the public understanding of risk at Cambridge university, said: “If we can believe the data from other countries, then the UK has done badly in terms of excess deaths. The issues now concern what will happen for the rest of the year, and trying to understand the processes contributing to our large excess.”

The full article can be read free of charge here: https://www.ft.com/content/6b4c784e-...2-648ffde71bf0