Official figures show the UK death toll from Covid-19 to be 40,496 as at 11th May, the Guardian reports – significantly higher than the figure of 33,186 deaths quoted at the UK Government briefing on 13th May. The figures highlighted at the UK Government daily briefings are deliberately reduced by only including deaths where the victim has been tested, excluding many Covid-19 deaths where the virus was named on the death certificate.
The Guardian of 13 May uses official figures from the Office for National Statistics and the latest official data from Scotland and
Northern Ireland to reveal UK deaths of 40,496 – the highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe. Studies also reveal people in the poorest areas are nearly twice as likely to die from Covid-19 as those in the richest areas, and black and minority ethnic people have a much higher mortality rate.
The real figures for total UK deaths are almost certainly much worse. Researchers from the London School of Economics estimate the real number of deaths in Care Homes to be more than double the official figure of 8,314 up to 8 May. Former Office for National Statistics analyst Jamie Jenkins estimates 60,520 excess deaths in the UK related to Covid-19 up to 11 May.
People’s health must come before profit!
As the UK government tries to pressure people back to work, we need to understand the vested interests which lead them to try to minimise the real scale of the death toll.
