So there I was, at 9.40 a.m. yesterday morning, sat in front of my laptop, ready to go live on the BBC News to explain the figures we'd just published, when the Skype link failed. The word "frustrating" doesn't quite do it justice.
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But anyway, from the data currently available, here's what I would have said.....
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- there were over 11,000 total deaths, up 500 on the week before, 1,000 higher than the 5 year average for the same week (but when Easter falls affects that average as registration offices are shut)
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- 18% of all deaths in London involved COVID
- COVID related deaths impacted older people more (as do all deaths of course)
- 62% of COVID related deaths were males
- 93% of COVID related deaths took place in a hospital setting
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- the daily govt announcement the following day (28 March) indicated there had been 926 positive COVID tested deaths in hospitals
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- the lags in registering deaths outside hospitals are more pronounced in a lockdown (don't know yet)
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- care homes suffer significant COVID outbreaks.
So, please stay home. Please don't visit care homes
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Hope you're all doing ok. Personally I am shattered and hoping for a bit of downtime over Easter. It has been a long 3 weeks
Stay safe 🙏
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