LONDON (UK) – Researchers in the country said on Wednesday that there are significant issues with the availability and quality of coronavirus-related data in England. They said this while launching a dashboard to help explain the patchwork of statistics.
The newly-launched COVID Response Evaluation Dashboard (COVID RED) displays available data from the Public Health England (PHE), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the National Health Service (NHS). It also highlights where more stats are required.
In order to stem the spread of local flare-ups in infections, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has implemented a three-tier system of local lockdowns in England while resisting from implementing a national lockdown.
“Increasing volumes of data are being shown in the media and in government press conferences as a basis for local tightening of restrictions,” said Professor Christina Pagel of University College London, who was part of the team that developed the dashboard.
“However, these data are often from disparate sources and are not linked together to give a more complete picture of how we are doing. This was the motivation behind our dashboard development.”
According to researchers, there are certain voids in information over whether confirmed cases were followed up, the number of people with symptoms of coronavirus in England and those who need or are receiving support.
They said the best available data was up to two weeks old, stressing that local lockdowns could only be informed by up-to-date information.
