January 25, 2021
Abrupt Increase in the UK Coronavirus Death-Case Ratio in December 2020
Category: Article Summary
Topic: Clinical Characteristics and Health Care Setting
Keywords (Tags): mortality, variants
[Pre-print, not peer-reviewed] A study evaluating the statistical relationship between COVID-19 infections and reported deaths in the UK identified an increase in the case fatality ratio in December 2020. While deaths were well described as 1/55th of cases detected 12 days prior during the months of October and November, by early December the case fatality ratio was higher, particularly in regions affected by the B.1.1.7 variant. The authors propose that lack of sufficient testing in December, more testing of those less likely to be infected, or confounding due to abnormally low levels of influenza and associated deaths could be alternative explanations for this finding.
Wallace et al. (Jan 22, 2021). Abrupt Increase in the UK Coronavirus Death-Case Ratio in December 2020. Pre-print downloaded Jan 25 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.21.21250264