Daily coronavirus death toll could be scrapped over claims it’s ‘exaggerated’

The UK’s coronavirus daily death toll could be scrapped after health officials were accused of ‘exaggerating’ the tally.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock launched a review into the count on July 17 after academics said Public Health England were counting coronavirus deaths even if the patient recovered months prior.

Oxford University experts found a recovered patient would be counted as dying from the virus ‘even if they were run over by a bus three months later’.

In contrast, Scotland and Wales operate a 28-day cut-off threshold from a positive test, after which it is not automatically assumed the patient died from Covid-19.

One recommendation from the review would be to stop daily reporting of the death count, a government source told The Telegraph.

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Instead, PHE could report deaths on a weekly basis.

The UK paused the daily death toll last month after Mr Hancock ordered the urgent review.

It was reported last week up to 10% of England’s coronavirus deaths could be wiped off the record because of incorrect counting. The toll could be recalculated based on the 28-day cut-off.

Professor Carl Heneghan, director at Oxford’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, said having an accurate death toll was ‘incredibly important’ for understanding coronavirus trends.

PHE said its previous data was ‘as complete as possible’ because there was ‘no World Health Organisation-agreed method’ for counting coronavirus deaths.

The Office for National Statistics excess death count is considered the most accurate figure because it only records Covid-19 deaths if it appears on the death certificate.

According to the UK government, the official death toll for all four nations stands at 46,574.

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