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With it now being a 24 hours delay in Covid-19 infection and death rate figures being published by Public Health England (PHE) and appearing on the Government’s website, once again the question of honesty and transparency needs to be raised by the media at the daily press conferences chaired by Boris Johnson.
But whilst the true status of Covid-19 in the UK is being hidden and with doctors in London reporting that pressures are becoming so great that intensive care units will soon be overwhelmed, new data has revealed that the United Kingdom has one of the highest Coronavirus death rates in the world. Up to 17th March the UK has reported 104 deaths and 2,626 total cases of COVID-19, which is a fatality rate of around 40 per 1,000 infections - similar to China's. When compared to all countries that have reported more than 1,000 cases, it is the third highest in Europe and the fifth highest overall. But the UK has the 10th highest number of infections globally. 
The UK government has received criticism from over 100 British scientists and NHS Doctors and specialists, concerned about the lack of effective response to the pandemic; whilst other countries have declared national emergencies, closing bars, restaurants and schools and banning large gatherings. The highest death rate is in fact Italy, where more than 83 cases out of a 1,000 are fatal. On Wednesday, the number of deaths in the country rose by 475 in one day to nearly 3,000. Iran, China and Spain all have higher death rates than the UK, per 1,000 cases. But in Germany, where there are more than 12,000 active cases of Coronavirus, only 31 deaths have been reported; a ratio meaning that just 2 of every 1,000 people who are diagnosed in that country with Coronavirus (Covid-19), actually die. However, other European countries with more than 1,000 confirmed cases, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland all have a low mortality rate for COVID-19.
London will then infect the rest of the country to a greater extent because of those travelling into and out of the Capital, and yet at the time of writing, Boris Johnson has done nothing to ensure his ‘request’ for self-isolation is in fact adhered to. But with celebrities such as Keith Lemon having been confirmed as having the Coronavirus (Covid-19) and then ignoring Johnson’s request and heading out into London pubs as he was seen doing so on Wednesday evening; the message to our celeb mad society is not the one that the Government wishes to be made.
The UK at present is not doing enough testing to know where the major infection rates are and stopped some time ago collating geographical evidence to allow a thorough picture of the state of infection rates for the identification of hot spots. The lack of protection equipment to clinical staff in hospitals, the lack of intensive care beds, refusal to sequester private hospital beds rather than renting them, the lack of ventilators and refusal to take action against individuals hoarding essentials and companies in the private sector who are profiting from Covid-19 infection tests; will ensure the UK infection rate and subsequent deaths will far outweigh that of Italy and China! Source: Euronews / New York Times / MSN News / unionsafety
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Whilst the ‘requests’ for self-isolation and no travel unless really necessary (and that means the local pub, Mr Johnson)are largely ignored in London, the spread of infections will soon overwhelm London NHS Intensive Care Units.
It remains to be seen whether or not the selfishness of panic buyers and people like Boris Johnson’s father and the likes of Keith Lemon, causes the Government to take the same action as that of China, which is now recovering from the virus following their building extra hospital, and locking down areas of high infection rates.