LONDON 27 Sep (ANA) - Almost 75,000 people could die from non-coronavirus causes as a result of the UK lockdown, an alarming report presented to the Government’s key advisors warns.

 

Research presented to the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) states 16,000 people lost their lives in care homes and hospitals in March and April, amid fears the NHS could be consumed by the pandemic.

 

A further 26,000 people will die within the next year if people continue to stay away from A&E and the social care sector continues to be plagued by problems, the Daily Mail reports.

 

Meanwhile, 31,900 people could die over the next five years due to missed cancer diagnoses, cancelled operations and the health impacts of a recession.

 

However, the report stresses that up to 400,000 people could have died with Covid-19 if the Government did not impose the strict nationwide lockdown in March.

 

This figure could have rocketed to 1.4 million if the NHS had not been protected. The shocking numbers, reportedly hidden in a 188-page document, were drawn up by civil servants at the Department of Health, the Office for National Statistics and the Home Office and presented to SAGE on July 15.

 

The official coronavirus death toll currently stands at 41,936, according to the DoH. Professor Chris Gale, a cardiologist at the University of Leeds, wrote in the paper the message to stay at home was ‘taken literally’ and resulted in thousands of deaths that ‘should not have happened’.(ANA)

FA/ANA/27 September 2020-------