key: cord-0715471-amroqxm5 authors: Khan, Shehryar; Cheng, Shuliang Oliver title: What led to the UK’s death toll? – An insight into the mistakes made and the current situation date: 2020-06-08 journal: Int J Surg DOI: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2020.05.083 sha: 35b77b8307cfc45e96ad9cfb3563c374b77881ad doc_id: 715471 cord_uid: amroqxm5 nan The following additional information is required for submission. Please note that failure to respond to these questions/statements will mean your submission will be returned. If you have nothing to declare in any of these categories, then this should be stated. There are no conflicts of interest. There were no sources of funding. No ethical approval was required. Please enter the name of the registry, the hyperlink to the registration and the unique identifying number of the study. You can register your research at http://www.researchregistry.com to obtain your UIN if you have not already registered your study. This is mandatory for human studies only. 1. Name of the registry: N/A 2. Unique Identifying number or registration ID: N/A 3. Hyperlink to your specific registration (must be publicly accessible and will be checked): N/A Please specify the contribution of each author to the paper, e.g. study design, data collections, data analysis, writing. Others, who have contributed in other ways should be listed as contributors. S Khan conceptualised and wrote this letter to the editor. SO Cheng edited and helped to gather the information for this letter. The Guarantor is the one or more people who accept full responsibility for the work and/or the conduct of the study, had access to the data, and controlled the decision to publish. Please note that providing a guarantor is compulsory. S Khan and SO Cheng accept full responsibility for this work. What led to the UK's death toll? -An insight into the mistakes made and the current situation Dear Editor, The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many countries into disarray and tested the ability of the governing bodies to respond to a crisis. Notably, economically developed countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America who have the two highest death tolls in the world with 34,466 and 85,860 deaths respectively as of May 17 th 2020 (1) . In this letter, we have carried out a multifactorial analysis of the UK's response that has led to such a high death toll. Another issue is the lack of testing in the UK has done compared to other countries. The first official COVID-19 case in the UK was reported on 29 th January. Yet by March 16 th the UK had not even tested a cumulative total of 40,000 people. Contrast this to Germany who had already tested over 400,000 by this time despite Germany's first confirmed case identified just 2 days earlier than the UK on 27 th January (4). This shows a staggering divide between the countries and there is significant worry that due to this lack of testing, the UK actually has a far higher true number of COVID-19 related deaths than reported. A clear indication that the UK has failed in its approach of managing COVID-19 is in comparison to the sports industry. From Saturday 16 th May the German Bundesliga was given the green light to restart matches behind closed doors, showing the significant progress in managing COVID-19. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced initial easing of lockdown to commence on May 11 th with non-essential shops to open in June "at the earliest" (5). As of May 17 th , the UK has reported 34,466 deaths, almost five times Germany's 7914, illustrating vastly different outcomes (1). It is clear from the numbers that a low number of testing, as well as late commencement of lockdown has led to this blatant discrepancy. This is especially poignant given that so many deaths could have been avoided, had the UK taken a more proactive approach in containing the coronavirus outbreak. Not Commissioned, internally reviewed COVID-2019) Situation Reports Europe's response to COVID-19 in March and April 2020 -A letter to the editor on "World Health Organization declares global emergency: A review of the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) Germany lockdown: When did Germany go on lockdown? Why is Germany death rate so low? Inside Germany's Covid-19 testing masterclass The Institute for Government Data Statement for 'What led to the UK's death toll? -An insight into the mistakes made and the current situation'The data in this correspondence is public and not sensitive in nature.