The average age of people who died from Covid-19 in England and Wales since the pandemic began is 82.4, the Daily Mail can reveal.
That figure – computed from Office of National Statistics data by experts at Oxford University – is significantly higher than the average age reached by people recorded as dying from all other causes, which is 81.5.
The study by Oxford’s Centre for Evidence Based Medicine also suggests that fewer than six people per thousand who get coronavirus now are likely to die from it.
The death rate – known as the infection fatality ratio, or IFR – has plummeted since June, even allowing for a big increase in testing.
Then, the study’s authors estimate, about 30 people per thousand who contracted the virus were dying.
The figures also show that currently 40 per cent of those who die from Covid are over 85, and a further 33 per cent are between 75 and 84.
A quarter were suffering from advanced dementia. Barely 1 per cent of those who die are under 44.
The new figures appear to provide support for the ‘Great Barrington Declaration’, which has now been signed by nearly 15,000 leading scientists and doctors.
The declaration, named after the Massachusetts town where it was drawn up last weekend, urges governments to switch from blanket, lockdown-style measures to ‘focused protection’ for the most vulnerable.
It criticises lockdown policies and represents a splintering of the scientific consensus over the coronavirus response.
As of last night it had been signed by 4,800 doctors and 9,050 medical and public health scientists.
According to the declaration, younger people who are most unlikely to die ‘should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal’.
It argues that this would build herd immunity, which in turn would protect the elderly and sick – who would be in isolation – because there would be lower infection rates in the community.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.da...coronavirus-82-4-years-writes-DAVID-ROSE.html