Last Updated on May 19, 2022 by Team THIP
Quick Take
An article published by a media website claims the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) revealed only 5,115 deaths occurred due to covid virus since the pandemic as of 20th April 2022. We fact-checked and found the claim to be False.
The Claim
On April 21, 2022, the National Health Service England published “COVID-19 total deaths – weekly summaries” report. Referring to this report, a media website named DailyExpose published an article titled, “160,000 COVID Deaths? – NHS confirms just 5,115 people have died of COVID-19 in England since beginning of Pandemic” on 4th May 2022.
Fact Check
Did the U.K. NHS confirm only 5,115 deaths due to Covid?
It does not seem so. The table titled “COVID-19 deaths by age group and pre-existing condition” shows 114,721 people died in hospitals in England due to the covid virus. Of this number, 109,606 had pre-existing conditions while 5,115 had no condition. The DailyExpose article assumed that only 5,115 deaths have occurred in England due to the covid virus since the beginning of the pandemic. However, the DailyExpose article based its conclusion on only one table and ignored conditions like the deaths with pre-existing conditions and comorbidities. Moreover, the article ignored people who died of the covid virus outside the hospital.
In a blog, the U.K. Office for National Statistics has explained the process in detail through which covid deaths are counted. This blog clearly states, “A doctor certifying a death can list all causes in the chain of events that led to the death and pre-existing conditions that may have contributed to the death, and this is used to determine an underlying cause of death. We use the term ‘due to COVID-19’ when referring only to deaths for which COVID-19 was the underlying cause. When taking into account all of the deaths that had COVID-19 mentioned on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or as contributing to the death, we use the term ‘involving COVID-19’.
The Healthy Indian Project (THIP) media has discussed other misinterpretations by DailyExpose in detail here.
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