In the UK, the daily announcements in the first weeks of the pandemic only included deaths in hospital of those who tested positive for COVID-19. Even then, there was generally a delay of a few days in hospital reports. For example, while on 27 March the government announced that 926 COVID-19 deaths had so far taken place in English hospitals, NHS England now reports that the true figure on that date was 1,649.[1]
A more reliable number is the one collated from death certificates issued by local authorities, by the Office for National Statistics. However, it can take up to thirteen days for deaths to be reported after a person passes away, and, in the absence of systematic testing, it is likely that some deaths caused by COVID-19 may not have been registered accurately.
A more accurate number still – but suffering even further delays – could be arrived at by looking at the excess number of deaths compared to a similar period in previous years. This figure may provide a better approximation. For example, on 22 April 2020, the Financial Times published extrapolations showing that the likely number of “excess deaths” since the start of the pandemic in the UK could be in the region of 41,000, rather than the official 17,337 fatalities officially recorded.[2]