A press release from the U.K.’s Department of Health and Social Care dated August 2020 outlines the methodology by which the United Kingdom would count deaths from COVID-19. Under the rules, all deaths occurring within 60 days of a positive COVID test are listed as COVID.
In a review of the numbers, analysis of the data found that 96% of deaths either had tested positive within 60 days of death or had COVID-19 on the death certificate, according to U.K. government data.
“This follows concerns raised by academics from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine about the original measure, which counted anyone who had ever tested positive as a COVID-associated death,” the press release said. “They called for the introduction of a 21-day measure in order to accurately assess the impact of the virus on mortality rates.”
SOURCE: Gov.UK August 12, 2020