Lockdown Effects May be Killing More People Than the Virus

The effects of lockdown may now be killing more people than are dying of Covid, official statistics suggest. Sarah Knapton, the Science Editor of the Telegraph, has more.

Figures for excess deaths from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that around 1,000 more people than usual are currently dying each week from conditions other than the virus.

The Telegraph understands that the Department of Health has ordered an investigation into the figures amid concern that the deaths are linked to delays to and deferment of treatment for conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

Over the past two months, the number of excess deaths not from Covid dwarfs the number linked to the virus. It comes amid renewed calls for Covid measures such as compulsory face masks in the winter

But the figures suggest the country is facing a new silent health crisis linked to the pandemic response rather than to the virus itself.

Worth reading in full – although, disappointingly, Knapton doesn’t consider the possibility that the excess deaths could be partly due to adverse effects of the Covid vaccines.