The premature and distasteful cross-border body counting is ongoing, potentially causing great public resentment

It is such a distasteful and premature exercise that there is a laudable tendency just to ignore it. That is what the UK government has done, what unionist and centrist politicians have done and what many NI medics have done.

In a sense they are right to rise above the debate, and to concentrate on more urgent matters, such as how to protect care home residents and staff.

The problem with ignoring this relentless focus on the alleged shortcomings in Northern Ireland is that it could cause great ill will and resentment among the public, and specifically people who have been infected. Who would not be annoyed if they or a loved one fell prey to a virus the spread of which could have been stopped?

It is certain that at the end of this pandemic, when there is a detailed examination of what happened, including the UK response, failures will be identified. Some of them already seem apparent, including what seems now to have been a failure to move immediately on increasing personal protective equipment (indeed a failure by previous governments too).

But few nations will emerge unscathed. In the meantime, there is not enough data to know exactly how each nation is suffering, due to varying test procedures, varying ways of recording deaths and due to outbreaks that have yet to happen.

While it is deeply distasteful to engage in body counts, the fact is that the ceaseless critics of the UK are doing just that.

The 309 deaths in Northern Ireland as of last night compared to 1,102 in the Republic. The latter includes care homes. If the NI total rises to 400 after deaths outside hospital are added and that is calculated proportionate to population it will be roughly on a par with Ireland. If NI rises to 500, it will be above.

There is no big difference at the moment in the raw data, and even if one emerges it will take time to understand why it has done so.

In the meantime our focus needs to be on stopping deaths and treating the infected.

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