Health
Ordinary colds and flu aren’t the reason for rising Covid-19 cases
We are not mistaking normal autumn illness for a “second wave” Read
Fact check
Leo Benedictus
Journalist
Leo joined Full Fact in January 2020. For 15 years, he worked freelance as a feature writer for the Guardian, Prospect, the New Scientist and others, making maps of immigration, explaining citizens’ assemblies and debunking superfoods. He has a fondness for science and statistics. He also writes novels.
Health
How quickly is the outbreak growing?
Government scientists warned that new cases could double every week, which some people say is not realistic. Read
Fact check
Health
This post comparing deaths in August is a guess
We don’t yet have data on the number of deaths from suicide in August 2020. Read
Fact check
Health
Lots of people are getting confused over testing figures
Many people in media and politics are mistakenly comparing two different things. Read
Fact check
Health
Angela Rayner’s testing numbers are not quite right
The numbers she used in PMQs measure different things, and cannot be compared. Read
Fact check
Health
Covid-19 kills far more than 0.1% of the people who catch it
The real death rate from Covid-19 is probably about five or ten times higher than 0.1% Read
Fact check
Health
Reopening universities will almost certainly not cause 50,000 deaths
This assumes that every student in the UK catches Covid-19 this autumn, and that nothing is done to stop it Read
Fact check
Figures for people seeking asylum in hotels and veterans sleeping rough are both wrong
It’s not true that 48,000 “illegals” are housed in hotels, and estimates of 6,000 veterans sleeping rough are likely to be too high. Read
Fact check
Health
Flu isn’t the underlying cause of death for more people than Covid-19
Figures from the Office for National Statistics are being widely misunderstood. Flu isn’t the underlying cause of death for more people than Covid-19 at the moment, but pneumonia probably is. Read
Fact check
Health
One in six may refuse the Covid-19 vaccine
New research suggests that people were not confused by the wording of a survey last summer Read
Fact check
