James O'Brien dispels fake news around coronavirus case figures
27 March 2020, 14:12
James O'Brien dispels fake news around coronavirus case figures
James O'Brien helps to dispel confusion and fake news surrounding the coronavirus case figures in the last 48 hours.
This is after it was announced on Wednesday that there was a considerable drop in deaths which then "rocketed back up again" on Thursday.
James explained: "So previously NHS had been providing figures to Public Health England on Covid-19 deaths by 9am everyday.
"Public Health England would then publish the stats at 2pm.
"As the death toll rose it became difficult, almost impossible, to collate and verify all of these numbers in time for the 2pm deadline. That's why the 2pm deadline started getting missed."
The NHS and PHE then changed the time the figures would be reported to allow for more time to ensure they were correct. Wednesday happened to be the crossover day when these times were being altered so the figures looked lower and the statistics yesterday were far higher.
"The way the deaths are counted and collated hasn't changed at all," James said.
He also assured that Public Health England does not need consent from families to publish death toll statistics.
The latest statistics have confirmed 578 UK deaths related to coronavirus.
Read more: Coronavirus updates LIVE
