The UK had it’s highest ever number of weekly deaths in the week ending 17 April
The UK’s Office of National Statistics released data on 28 April 2020 which showed that more British people died in the week ending 17 April 2020 than have ever died in any weekly period since they began retaining this figure, in 1993.
For clarification, this is the most British people who have ever died in a single week, since such figures have been recorded.
The total number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 – the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2 – was 8,758, which ‘mentioned “novel coronavirus (COVID-19).”‘
The ONS data is available here and paints a stark picture for British people, who are currently under a “stay at home” lockdown, which allows them only to leave their homes for essential shopping, one hour of exercise, or, if they absolutely cannot work from home, to travel for work.
Most shops and all restaurants and cafes, for example, are currently completely closed in the UK.
The deaths reported by the ONS are around 40% higher than the “hospital deaths” figure which has been more widely aired by UK officials to date.
Many may question if more could have been done to prevent community spread in the early phases, particularly as expert analysis indicates that the virus took hold widely in Britain early, while the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was advocating “business as usual” in the first week of March.
