In the week from July 27th, hospital deaths from COVID-19 in England were in single figures each day according to NHS England's own website, a total of 30 deaths. Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have reported either no hospital deaths from COVID-19 or only single figures over the same period. Yet, when non-hospital deaths were included, headlines on Tuesday, July 28th, shrieked that a further 119 people across the UK had died from COVID-19.

Around 100 deaths outside hospital attributed to COVID-19 in one day alone! The PHE dashboard continued the discrepancy the following day with 83. Two weeks after, it was revealed that PHE included anyone who had ever tested positive for COVID-19, regardless of the cause of death and nothing has changed.

The public are not being told that new admissions to hospital are reducing or that in many local authority areas, new cases are zero or fewer than 10. New cases in areas placed under partial restrictions like Manchester, (190 in the week to July 31st)), or Bradford (285) are responsible for most new cases. We are told more testing means more cases but not the total number of tests or the percentage of which are positive. It's as if we must be kept in a state of perpetual fear. We are not to be trusted with good news.

UKIP has supported measures, which are often unpopular with our supporters, provided we believe the scientific evidence justifies their use to avoid the economic impact of a second lockdown and the loss of life from a resurgence. What we cannot and do not support is the continued attempt to deceive the British population with selective and misleading information.

While PHE continues its smoke and mirror COVID horror story, the NHS continues to fail to reinstate normal medical services, from GP appointments to routine surgery. In the South West alone, waiting lists have risen from 400 in January to over 9,000 today. This is the scandal that UKIP will keep highlighting.

Helena Windsor

UKIP Spokewoman Health