Skip to main content
Gifts from The Morning Star
Is the coronavirus becoming ‘less deadly’?
In a rapidly changing situation for measuring, monitoring and intervention, can we ever compare the rate of the viral infection now with how it was in March? Ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL
While it might be reassuring to believe that the coronavirus is becoming less deadly, any apparent decline in the number of infected dying is due to a change record keeping, not the death rate

OVER the course of the Covid-19 outbreak in Britain many people have been following the charts plotting confirmed cases and deaths over time. We look to these graphs to get a sense of what the outbreak is doing and how well we have it under control.

One thing some people have begun to question is an apparent discrepancy between the numbers of confirmed cases and the numbers of deaths that accompany them.

For example, between March 1 and the April 1 this year, the government Covid-19 dashboard reports that in Britain there were 139,065 confirmed cases and 24,046 deaths. In comparison, between the September 1 and October 1, there have been 134,538 confirmed cases but only 711 deaths.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
UNRECOGNISED POTENTIA:L: Girl students conduct an experiment by throwing cotton balls to demonstrate the instinctive reaction of flinching at The Big Bang Fair 2025, for young scientists and engineers, at the NEC in Birmingham on June 18 2025
Science and Society / 16 July 2025
16 July 2025

What’s behind the stubborn gender gap in Stem disciplines ask ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT in their column Science and Society

The ruins of Guernica after it was bombed by the Nazis on April 26, 1937
Science and Society / 2 July 2025
2 July 2025

While politicians condemned fascist bombing of Spanish civilians in 1937, they ignored identical RAF tactics across the colonies. Today’s aerial warfare continues this pattern of applying different moral standards based on geography and race, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

LETHAL PLANS: Keir Starmer visits a defence contractor in Bedfordshire
Science and Society / 4 June 2025
4 June 2025

The distinction between domestic and military drones is more theoretical than practical, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

UNEASY COHABITATION: Southern Ridges, Singapore, 2015 Pic: Zairon/CC
Science and Society / 21 May 2025
21 May 2025

Nature's self-reconstruction is both intriguing and beneficial and as such merits human protection, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

 

Similar stories
A person placing a swab from a Covid 19 lateral flow test in
Features / 15 March 2025
15 March 2025
The NHS continues to say Covid spreads primarily through ‘droplet and touch’ while the WHO emphasises airborne transmission, meaning vulnerable patients and healthcare workers face unnecessary risks, reports RUTH HUNT
A general view of staff on a NHS hospital ward at Ealing Hos
Britain / 19 December 2024
19 December 2024