Boris Johnson says low figures are due to lockdown
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Figures released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show 23 percent of coronavirus deaths are registered as people who die “with” the virus rather than from it. It means those who passed away will have tested positive with coronavirus, but it was not the primary cause of death registered.
ONS figures also show daily deaths have slowed since the beginning of April.
By “date of death” daily figures, no more than 28 have been recorded since the start of the month.
The Government announced higher daily figures, with 60 fatalities announced on April 9, because their updates are based on how many deaths are reported on a given day.
Oxford University has calculated that while there are 2,537 coronavirus patients in hospital, around half of them actively have the virus while the others are recovered.
Steve Baker, deputy chairman of the Covid Research Group of Tory MPs, told The Telegraph he believes the new data means lockdown restrictions should be lifted sooner.
He told the outlet: “I know the Prime Minister is worried about case data in other countries.
“But we were promised the vaccine would break the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths.
“We’ve been told repeatedly it has done. So of course we’re looking to the Prime Minister to follow the data so that we can end the other harms that come with restrictions and lockdown.
“The sooner we’re talking about the crisis in cancer care, the sooner we’ll be solving it.”
But Boris Johnson has continued to urge caution, and said as lockdown restrictions are lifted cases will begin to rise.
The Prime Minister said: “It is very, very important for everybody to understand that the reduction in these numbers – in hospitalisations and in deaths and in infections – has not been achieved by the vaccination programme.
“People don’t, I think, appreciate that it’s the lockdown that has been overwhelmingly important in delivering this improvement in the pandemic and in the figures that we’re seeing.
“So yes of course the vaccination programme has helped, but the bulk of the work in reducing the disease has been done by the lockdown.”
It comes after the second step of the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown saw non-essential businesses, pubs, hairdressers and gyms allowed to reopen.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of health service organization NHS Providers, warned there were “good reasons to be cautious” despite the re-opening.
He said: “We need to be really careful about assuming we’re on a one-way, inexorable, inevitable track to it all being fantastic and we can go back to normal, because actually we’ll need a new normal.”
It also comes as the UK has offered a vaccine to ever adult over 50 years old, now offering those 45-and-up jabs ahead of schedule.
The UK has administered 32,250,481 first doses and 7,7857,396 second doses as of yesterday.
Yesterday also saw 2,472 cases and 23 deaths within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.
In total, the UK has seen 4,375,814 cases and 127,123 deaths.
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