This is a study from England/Wales that looked at average death rates over time and supports the theory that coronavirus deaths may be underreported.
Nick Stripe, the health analysis and life events division at the Office for National Statistics said the ONS figures showed around 8,000 "excess deaths" (above the five-year average) in the week ending 10 April.
Of those, 80% were directly related to coronavirus. Stripe said the ONS is carrying out a research project to establish what was responsible for the other 20%. They might be related to coronavirus or because people are not going to hospital for other illnesses.
Notably, the ONS’s figures for 10 April were 40% higher than the numbers that were officially announced by the government for coronavirus deaths. And the ONS figures were about 20% higher than the latest figures from NHS England.
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