Well I was wrong about the Covid-19 figures from Italy being aberrant.
The UK has managed to surpass Italy's total death figures for the coronavirus, after it was confirmed that officially over 34,000 (some estimates are 41,000), people have now died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community, after testing positive for the virus.
How, we have managed this feat, I'm not entirely sure, but without doubt our lack of manufacturing capabilities, seems to be a factor, as we have to buy protective gear from abroad (including China), and some has been defective e.g the 25 million tiger Eye goggles were bought for the NHS in 2009, and 9.7million of that purchase have been found to be defective. Our testing program has similarly hindered by lack of kit.
So now Italy has only the third highest number of officially recorded coronavirus deaths in the world at just under 30,000, after the United States (77,000+) and the UK, followed by Spain 26,000+, and France 26,000+ deaths. China on the other hand, officially has only had 4,700 coronavirus deaths (if you can believe its figures).
This on the face of it is a very poor outcome, in return for the great damage the lockdown is causing the UK, both economically and socially. However, apparently for a true like for like comparison between Italy and the UK, the UK would still have to register at least 10% more deaths than Italy, for it to have a higher death rate per person. Not that this is any consolation for the UK's apparently very poor performance.
So we may have to admit it, and say that although some of us have tried hard, we have apparently got a very poor result from our lockdown in terms of absolute numbers killed. Germany and some other EU countries have performed far better. The reasons for this could be many and varied. Perhaps there is some relation to obesity rates, which are far higher in the UK and USA, than many other developed western countries (as well as less developed countries). Underlying population density, and chronic health issues may be other related factors, as well as the general age of the population.
Of course with statistics there's always another way to look at it. For instance the death rate per million of population. This shows a rather different picture:
Still I guess all this will come out in the wash when the pandemic has passed .... probably sometime next year.
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| UK Covid-19 Death Rates Are Improving ..... Slowly |
The UK has managed to surpass Italy's total death figures for the coronavirus, after it was confirmed that officially over 34,000 (some estimates are 41,000), people have now died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community, after testing positive for the virus.
How, we have managed this feat, I'm not entirely sure, but without doubt our lack of manufacturing capabilities, seems to be a factor, as we have to buy protective gear from abroad (including China), and some has been defective e.g the 25 million tiger Eye goggles were bought for the NHS in 2009, and 9.7million of that purchase have been found to be defective. Our testing program has similarly hindered by lack of kit.
So now Italy has only the third highest number of officially recorded coronavirus deaths in the world at just under 30,000, after the United States (77,000+) and the UK, followed by Spain 26,000+, and France 26,000+ deaths. China on the other hand, officially has only had 4,700 coronavirus deaths (if you can believe its figures).
This on the face of it is a very poor outcome, in return for the great damage the lockdown is causing the UK, both economically and socially. However, apparently for a true like for like comparison between Italy and the UK, the UK would still have to register at least 10% more deaths than Italy, for it to have a higher death rate per person. Not that this is any consolation for the UK's apparently very poor performance.
So we may have to admit it, and say that although some of us have tried hard, we have apparently got a very poor result from our lockdown in terms of absolute numbers killed. Germany and some other EU countries have performed far better. The reasons for this could be many and varied. Perhaps there is some relation to obesity rates, which are far higher in the UK and USA, than many other developed western countries (as well as less developed countries). Underlying population density, and chronic health issues may be other related factors, as well as the general age of the population.
Of course with statistics there's always another way to look at it. For instance the death rate per million of population. This shows a rather different picture:
- Belgium - 751.27
- Spain - 566.69
- Italy - 502.97
- UK - 475.07
- France - 392.37
- Sweden - 316.21
- Netherlands - 314.72
- Ireland - 297.93
- United States - 240.47
Still I guess all this will come out in the wash when the pandemic has passed .... probably sometime next year.
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