Coronavirus: NI death counts are likely to be inaccurate admits Province’s top medical figure

He said that, on one hand, their counting methods are likely to overestimate deaths because they do not distinguish between “dying from” and “dying with” coronavirus – an important distinction.

In other words, pneumonia could well be the cause of someone’s death, and their coronavirus diagnosis may have played little or no role in their passing.

And on the other hand, Dr McBride said many coronavirus deaths are likely happening totally off the RADAR.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Dr McBride said: “What we are reporting at the minute are hospital deaths. There will always be a lag time in terms of the official reporting of deaths, official statistics through the registration of deaths.

“And it is possible there are other deaths in the community which, when we see those official statistics come through, may be attributed to Covid-19.”

However, he also indicated that there is a flaw in the numbers because of the “ultra inclusive” way they count hospital fatalities.

“There are many people who will die with Covid-19... but not necessarily directly as a consequence,” he said.

“I think that it’ll be probably many months before we’ll be able to tell the full picture.”

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