Why did the UK suffer such a high rate of excess deaths?
Hugo Keith KC says the UK had one of the highest rates of excess deaths in Europe during the pandemic, with almost all other countries in western Europe having a lower level.
Boris Johnson disagrees, saying the ONS data he saw put the UK at 16th in a table of 33 countries.
Mr Keith counters, saying the UK was one of the worst off, “if not the second worst off”.
Asked why the rate of excess deaths was high, Mr Johnson says “statistics vary” and insists the UK was “well down the European table, even further down the world table”.
He acknowledges there were “particular headwinds… irrespective of government action”, such as having an “extremely elderly population” with lots of comorbidities and a densely populated country.
Leave a Reply