Why does the UK have more daily deaths from Covid than all the EU 27 countries have added together??

[noostrich]

The UK currently has 359 daily deaths - ALL of the other EU 27 states ADDED TOGETHER have only 314.

twitter.com/WritesBright/status/1268313583579885569/photo/1

Why on earth is the UK doing so badly?

How can people be so complacent about how badly the UK government has mishandled the crisis?

That’s really interesting @MakeLemonade and positive too.

Spain, Italy & France had their peak a month before the U.K. Compare the EU figure today with the U.K. in a months time and you’ll have your true comparison.

As an example on March 26 (or next day if that’s when stats were released) for Spain, France and Italy there were 1906 deaths, the UK had 183 deaths. I didn’t even look at the rest of the EU.

Propaganda isn’t it. Every country does it to show themselves in the best possible light.

Surely those that are opposed to the easing of lockdown would feel differently if they knew current numbers were just in double digits? I wonder what the rationale is behind the government reporting this way?

You also need to consider population size & density. The UK has one of the largest populations in Europe, comparable only to France (only Germany has a larger population). The UK also has a high population density.
Don't get me wrong, I think we locked down too late, should have closed borders, quarantined everyone arriving etc but there are other mitigating factors to consider then just bare numbers of deaths.

Most of yesterday's deaths, or recent ones can't be blamed on the Government's slow uptake right back at the beginning of March, I wouldn't have thought.

I think your blame is misdirected.

@Noextremes2017
It wasn't the ONS who pulled up the government on reporting test data, it was the UK Statistics Authority.

@oblomov20
A late lockdown continues to impact numbers for a long time. If you let a virus grow and get out of control it takes longer to get it back under control and lots more people are infected during that time.

@Delatron

Surely those that are opposed to the easing of lockdown would feel differently if they knew current numbers were just in double digits? I wonder what the rationale is behind the government reporting this way?

I think, at this point, its basically a reporting hole we have got ourselves into that we can't get out of without people being (even more) distrustful of the numbers.

In reality, we don't know how many people died of COVID yesterday, and won't have a good idea of a final-ish total for a week or so. Having got ourselves into the routine of a number every day, it's going to very hard to get out of it, even though the data is at best unhelpful. Stopping it, or reframing it to, say., "deaths that actually happened on this date" would be seen as the govt trying to fix the data.

Because we “locked down“ too late, too softly gave up on track and trace , and kept our borders open.

Yes that makes sense @PatriciaHolm

I do wonder if some countries are under reporting to make them look better.

Not that I'm suggesting our government is being wonderfully honest either, but the governments of certain large countries would swear red is blue if it suited their interests.

The data is too messy for a true comparison of one day especially as we are a good couple of weeks being Italy/France/Spain. Italy started locking down at the end of Feb at which point there were barely any cases in the U.K.

Also the point of data being collected differently in different countries is valid. The U.K. is seemingly collecting as much verifiable data and publishing it as it can; I definitely think that a lot of countries are under reporting. Excess deaths will tell their own story (although I realise the U.K. excess death figure is also awful). Brazil and Russia particularly don’t look quite right at the moment.

That’s not to say our total isn’t shameful and there are a lot of questions to be answered. But credit where it’s due, I don’t think our government is hiding anything and is in fact making a decent effort to get a good official picture.

@Plbrookes

I stand corrected.

Presumably Johnson therefore considers the ONS 'world class' and the UK Statistics Authority not.

Sad to say the Government, throughout this crisis, has confirmed the old adage 'there are lies, damned lies and statistics'.

Because of the masses in England going to the park, protests and NOT adhering to the rules, including ministers who thinK they are above the law.

Thank god I live in one of the principalities

Because the UK’s response has been woeful. Look at the guidelines and restrictions compared to the other countries’.

This is OUR fault for not following the guidelines. The government trusted us to take care and behave like responsible adults, but too many people behaved like selfish, irresponsible children.

Probably because no one is dying of anything else.
Frankly, I don't believe all the statistics. Many deaths are 'suspected' CV19, but have not always been tested.
The only real way to know, is the excess deaths compared to the 5 year average. Even then, the ONS website compares the deaths on a weekly basis (deaths this week in June compared to previous years, same week). Other EU countries are comparing with just last year, rather than a 5 year average.
However, the excess deaths will also include those that have died of other things, that are only indirectly related to Cobid, such as untreated cancer.

Reported deaths is different to actual deaths. You could actually die today but it not be reported for several weeks. In twelve months time when date adjustments have been made the actual daily deaths will reveal a clearer picture of the pandemic course.
Many patients will have been on ventilators for several weeks having caught Covid before lockdown who may not recover. Again the definitive and detailed analysis of this data will be compiled so the picture will become clearer. Also deaths may not indicate higher infection rates, since we are seeing the new infections steadily falling despite 10x more tests compared with during peak deaths.

user1486131602, why on earth shouldn't people go to the park, given the Government has lifted lockdown and said they are allowed to go to the park.

The problem is not the British people doing what the Government tells them to do, it is with the Government which has bizarrely chosen to lift lockdown when the threat level is still at 4 and their own 5 tests have not been met.

oralengineer - no, excess death figures are already showing us that Britain has some of the worst death rates in the world. It does not take 12 months to report these.

Jaxhog - the guidelines have been unclear.

What did 'Be alert' mean? How was one supposed to 'be alert'? It's a cop out for the government to attempt to blame ordinary people for not following the guidelines when they changed every 5 minutes and were so vague. Maybe you can explain what we were supposed to be alert for and how this would reduce death rates. Given that the virus is invisible.

Was Dominic Cummings following the guidance (that he created)? If not, do you blame him for the high death rate then?

@Noextremes2017
Or he could think both the ONS and UKSA are world class.

Boris, Boris, Boris?

What happened to personal responsibility?
It's not Boris Johnson shopping in Asda with wife and four children taking up the entire aisle, touching all the produce and just putting one in their trolley. It's not Boris Johnson on the beach at Southend, Bournemouth, Brighton etc. It's not Boris Johnson ambling down the high street, skirting people by about 5cm. It's not Boris Johnson having BBQs with family from ten different homes.
Etc etc etc

Never voted conservative in my life, but sometimes I get fed up of hearing people blame others for their own lack of care and discipline. If we'd had lockdown like Spain, and sooner, yes cases would have been fewer. But most people think I'm the mad one for keeping distant, not travelling, wearing a mask, only buying necessities etc.

Why, on every thread about death rates, is there a continual line of excuses about how it's really not that bad, it's just reporting methods - we Brits must be the only ones doing it properly of course. Or, even worse, people acknowledging the terrible death rate but excusing it because it's mainly old people. It's baffling!

The government must be thanking their lucky stars that so many people are swallowing this crap. It's left to the likes of Piers Morgan to kick up a fuss!

The most reliable data is likely to be excess death rates and whichever way you look at those ours, England's especially, are absolutely shocking and up there with the worst in the world. When are we going to get the public outcry this deserves?

@7ofNine
Sorry, but why should I take responsibility for my own actions when I can get so much validation from others from blaming the government for everything bad that happens?

Only read the op but have all the BJ and Tory fans piled in yet to say how brilliantly they have handled CV, all the other countries are lying, any failures are Corbyn's/immigrants/the public's fault? It's so predictable. We could have 10x the deaths we do and they will NEVER attribute any responsibility whatsoever to the Gov. Gov know this and that they will face no consequences from their voters for piss poor performance, perhaps if we did hold them to account fewer people would have died.