Covid-19 deaths and reporting cycles

New reported deaths in England are higher on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Every day, the UK Covid-19 dashboard publishes its figures. There appears to be a common misunderstanding about some of these statistics. For example, consider the measure of Covid-19 surveillance deaths. In England, that means counting all deaths within 28 days of a positive test.

Some journalists imply reported numbers are deaths occurring in the last 24 hours. Headlines often refer to ‘soaring’ deaths: