Excessive focus on 'official' death numbers has led to a distorted picture of the pandemic’s impact on mortality – both total and over time. Tracking age-adjusted excess mortality provides a much-needed corrective.
September was the first month of the year in which several causes of death other than Covid were above their five-year averages. After months of disruption, are we now seeing the impact of lockdown on mortality?
In 2019, nine out of ten people lived in countries with a higher level of mortality than Britain experienced last year. While the change in mortality last year was historically high, the level to which it rose was not.
The latest ONS data shows that GDP growth was lower than expected in August, and still lower than pre-lockdown levels. Figures for July have also been revised downwards in a blow to the Treasury.
Tom Chivers at UnHerd claims false positives in the PCR test are "so rare" they can be ignored. Mike Hearn, a former Google software engineer, begs to differ in the Daily Sceptic.
A judge has said the Government has a case to answer on the legality of approving Covid vaccinations for children and has asked it to respond to the arguments made by the Covid19 Assembly.
The latest report from the ONS Infection Survey claims to show that masks up to halve infection risk and vaccines are better than natural immunity. But it's full of problems.
Covid infections have plummeted despite fears that the new school term would fuel an autumn surge, according to the latest ONS data.
August's age-standardised mortality rate was 2.5% higher than the five-year average. But looking at age-adjusted mortality in the first eight months of the year, 2021 is the sixth least deadly year on record.
In April, the ONS estimated that 12% of people who test positive end up getting long COVID. That estimate has now been revised down to 2.5%. And when it comes to children younger than 11, the figure is less than 1%.
