“If we want to . . . [understand] the ways different countries have responded to the surging pandemic and how [it] has affected the health of the population, the best way is to count excess deaths,” mentioned David Leon, professor of epidemiology on the London Faculty of Hygiene & Tropical Medication.

Consultants have warned of great under-reporting of Covid-19 instances in residential services for the aged, who’re notably susceptible to the virus. “Very few countries appear to be testing people in care homes, staff and residents, systematically,” mentioned Adelina Comas-Herrera, Analysis Fellow on the Care Coverage and Analysis Centre of the London Faculty of Economics.