The hearings have started in the. investigation by the general public. examining the effects of and response to the coronavirus pandemic in the UK.
Governmental organizations published more statistics on the virus's case count, hospitalizations, and fatalities as it spread.
From the start of the pandemic up until May 5, 2023, when the World Health Organization declared the virus to be over as a "global health emergency," the BBC's data team has divided some of these statistics into key areas to follow along with the investigation.
Covid-19 was one of the causes of death for just under 227,000 people who passed away in the UK. This includes those who passed away without having been examined for the virus beforehand.
On January 19, 2021, 1,490 deaths in this manner were registered, which is the most ever.
The initial strain of the virus found in the UK, which was discovered in Kent, was the dominant strain at this stage of the pandemic. The WHO subsequently referred to this as the "Alpha" variant.
The UK's vaccine rollout, which started to lower the risk of death and serious illness from the virus, was also only a month old at the time.
Another way to examine how the coronavirus affected the number of fatalities in the UK is to count all deaths that have occurred since the pandemic started, also known as "excess deaths.".
There had been more than 208,000 deaths as of May 5, 2023. The UK experienced higher-than-average death rates for the majority of the previous three years.
The first two years of the pandemic saw its highest peaks during times when Covid-related deaths were at their highest rates. In the middle of April 2020, the virus was blamed for about 9,500 of the nearly 13,000 extra deaths.
The flu and the strain on the NHS were two other factors that contributed to a larger portion of the excess seen in the second half of 2022. 600 of the 3,300 extra deaths that occurred in the middle of January 2023 were caused by Covid.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that more than 44 million people in the UK contracted the virus between April 2020 and February 2022. Since it is impossible to know how many infections there are nationwide, this is the most accurate measurement that is currently available.
The ONS conducted a routine survey throughout the pandemic, testing a sample of people at random to determine how many people were infected.
According to the survey, the pandemic's estimated peak occurred in late March 2022, when it was estimated that 4.9 million people worldwide had the virus. However, because trials didn't start in England until April 2020, the survey missed the pandemic's initial wave.
Data from PCR and lateral flow tests on the number of coronavirus cases that have been reported in the UK are still regularly published. For a number of reasons, including the accessibility and scope of testing, recorded cases are not thought to provide the most accurate picture.
Between March 2020 and May 5, 2023, more than 1 point 1 million patients with the coronavirus were admitted to hospitals in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
These were individuals who tested positive up to two weeks prior to going to the hospital or during treatment.
Approximately 43,000 admissions of people who either had the virus or were suspected of having it occurred in Wales, according to different calculations of the statistics.
The week ending January 20, 2021, saw a peak of more than 38,000 hospitalized patients who had the coronavirus.
About one in four general admission beds in hospitals across England were occupied by patients with coronavirus when a new national lockdown was announced on January 5th, 2021.
The health service had to deal for the first time with both the seasonal pressures and the additional strain of Covid, which was spreading among a population with low immunity and no vaccinations.
