A Lancet study has revealed Britain’s Covid death rate is much better than previous statistics have suggested. A new analysis of global excess deaths – a measure the Office for Statistics Regulation told MPs last week is a more accurate count than total deaths – finds the UK is actually a middle-ranking country with an excess death rate of 126.8 per 100,000, almost identical to France’s 124.4 and just ahead of Germany’s 120.5. Anti-lockdown Sweden? 91.2…
The news is set to deal a crushing blow to political point-scoring lovers on social media who enjoy claiming the UK had a particularly awful pandemic compared to similar western countries.
The global average excess death rate from the pandemic has now been calculated at 120 per 100,000, putting Britain only slightly ahead and roughly in the middle of the 191 countries included in the study, placing 102nd. This is much more positive than if measured by total deaths, which suggests Britain had the 24th worst pandemic of any country. The Lancet also finds that many countries have been under-reporting deaths to a mass extent, meaning the global death toll may be three times higher than the official figure…
