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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics used in everyday life

Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life

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More or Less: Antibody tests, early lockdown advice and European deaths

Antibody tests, early lockdown advice and European death

Antibody tests, early lockdown advice and European deaths

BBC Radio 4 - More or Less, Antibody tests, early lockdown advice and European deaths

Are more people are dying of Covid-19 in the UK than all the EU countries put together?

Are more people are dying of Covid-19 in the UK than all the EU countries put together? Can coronavirus antibody tests really be 100% accurate?

At the start of March the government's Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said that the UK’s coronavirus outbreak was four weeks behind the epidemic in Italy. This ability to watch other countries deal with the disease ahead of us potentially influenced the decisions we made about which actions to take and when, including lockdown. So was he right? 

Is it true that more people are dying of Covid-19 in the UK than in the 27 countries of the EU put together? We investigate headlines reporting that antibody tests are 100% accurate. Plus, we catch up on how many coronavirus tests the government says it’s now carrying out.

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