The real death toll associated with Covid is higher than 52,000, says Financial Times' Economics Editor
The number of deaths associated with coronavirus is higher than the number the government is putting out, says Financial Times' Economics Editor Chris Giles.
According to Chris, the real death toll from Covid is around 75,000 - not 52,000.
Speaking to Piers Morgan and Susanna, Chris said "It is very clear that what has actually happened since the spring is that over 70,000 people have died more than we would normally expect in a normal year over the past five years or so if you compare it with an average. That’s what has already happened and that’s data up till two weeks ago so by now, there’s been probably 75,000 deaths, so about 50% more than about the 52,000 number that we see every day.
Asked how he has come up with a different figure to the one the government has put out based on the metric of the number of people who die within 28 days of a Covid positive test, Chris explained: "It’s very simple. These are also government figures. They are official figures of just the number of people who died. That’s something we know we can count.
"In the spring - in March and April - we just didn’t test anyone so people were dying all over the place particularly in care homes who weren’t tested. We know that many many many more people died this year than the official figures suggest should happen in a normal year and it’s about 75,000. You can’t be absolutely exact about that, but that’s the number of people that this disease has killed directly or indirectly since the spring."
On the subject of Covid-deniers, Chris said: "It’s quite extraordinary. You do get this outpouring of people trying to find excuses, trying to find reasons why it’s not Covid. But you just have to look at where people are dying. At the moment, people are dying more than normal in the north-west of England, in the north-east of England, all the places where Covid is very high.
"People aren’t dying more than normal in London at the moment where Covid isn’t that high and in the spring, it was the opposite way round. All the deaths were in London where Covid was really high in the spring. It’s absolutely clear that Covid is ultimately the cause, what you can’t say exactly is for every person who has died, what the underlying cause was. The Office for National Statistics do do quite a good job based on what doctors record on death certificates," he added.
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