U.K. Cuts Virus Death Toll With 28-Day Limit for Positive Tests

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. changed how it calculates deaths from the pandemic following concerns that anyone who tested positive for Covid-19 in England who later passed away -- regardless of timing or circumstances -- was being recorded as a fatality caused by the virus.

Going forward, deaths across the U.K. will be attributed to the virus if they occur within 28 days of a positive test from a laboratory. That new methodology reduces the number of deaths to 41,329 from more than 46,700 previously, but still means that the country has the highest death toll from Covid-19 in Europe.

“The way we count deaths in people with COVID-19 in England was originally chosen to avoid underestimating deaths caused by the virus in the early stages of the pandemic,” John Newton, director of health improvement at Public Health England, said in a statement. The new method “will give us crucial information about both recent trends and overall mortality burden due to COVID-19.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has faced strong criticism over the government’s management of the pandemic, including that it failed to test patients leaving hospitals for care homes and that it waited too long before ordering a lockdown. The government has since started introducing local lockdowns when there are outbreaks, bought fast virus tests and signed deals with vaccine developers as it seeks more protection against Covid-19

The new methodology is in line with advice from the U.K. Statistics Authority. The regulator has previously criticized government testing data, saying it fell well short of expectations.

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