Top U.K. Statistics Official Questions Government Virus Data

(Bloomberg) --

The U.K's statistics body criticized the government's coronavirus-testing data, saying it falls well short of expectations.

In a letter Tuesday to Health Secretary Matt Hancock, David Norgrove, chairman of the U.K. Statistics Authority, said the “aim seems to be to show the largest possible number of tests,” which gives them “limited value” in terms of analysis.

“It is not surprising that given their inadequacy, data on testing are so widely criticized and often mistrusted,” he wrote.

The government's daily presentations on the virus give “an artificially low impression” of the percentage of tests that are positive, as they use the number of positive results from diagnostic tests alongside the total number of all tests, he said.

In response, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman James Slack said Hancock had spoken to Norgrove and reiterated his intention to work closely with the U.K. Statistics Authority.

“The statistics which are prepared in very challenging circumstances are presented in the best way possible,” Slack said. “Our approach throughout has been to increase transparency around the government's response to the virus.”

The criticism comes as the government restarts the economy after a lockdown of more than two months. Some senior government medical advisers have already warned it's too early to ease the curbs on movement.

Norgrove also said that at the government's daily press briefings, the number of tests carried out is added to those mailed out, which limits understanding. There are no figures on the number of tests posted out that are successfully completed.

He asked the government to provide a timetable for changes to the current testing data and to provide metrics for the new test-and-trace program that seeks to contain the virus. He also asked for new data on the employment, age, gender and location of people who are infected.