As we move to the 'surge stage' in the coming weeks of COVID-19 deaths in the UK, we do need to get more detailed information on deaths outside hospitals. This week the Office for National Statistics reported the highest total number of deaths since ONS weekly death reporting began in 2005. That gives us some idea of what the underreporting of COVID-19 deaths might be. It is extremely difficult to be sure. One question is to what extent the virus is the cause of deaths that would not have happened without an infection, and to what extent it is hastening deaths that would have occurred in any event. The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 3 April 2020 (Week 14) was 16,387; this represents an increase of 5,246 deaths registered compared with the previous week (Week 13) and 6,082 more than the five-year average. COVID-19 was mentioned in 21.2% of all deaths registered in that week - a significant ...
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