THE number of Brits who have recovered from coronavirus is to be published for the first time in a bid to coax people back to work, HOAR can reveal.
No10 has ordered the Department of Health to come up with the key figure which will be rolled out daily soon.
Government sources said Britain’s coronavirus recovery rate was unlikely to be published before the start of June because the modelling involved to discover it was complex.
The UK is the only major country not to publish its recovery rate along with the Netherlands.
Independent medical estimates have put the number of Brits who have had coronavirus at around 8 per cent of the population so far.
That equates to more than five million people.
With the official death toll from Covid-19 standing at 34,796, that gives the virus a fatality rate as low as just 0.5%.
Boris Johnson thinks that the general public seeing the positive recovery rate regularly will help the nation appreciate the low personal risk from catching it.
Confirming the decision to publish the recovery rate, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care last night confirmed:
“While some countries do publish this type of information, it varies widely in what it actually shows.
“We are looking at a way based on the length of time it takes to recover.”
A Downing Street source added: “We have been asking for the recovery rate for weeks but the Department of Health simply haven’t been keeping the figures.
“It’s important for us to give the public a wide range of statistics so they get the full picture, not just the stark ones.”
The move is possible because scientists are now receiving significantly more data on the epidemic, thanks in large to a major survey on infection being run by the Office of National Statistics.
Until recently, NHS chiefs were only able to give recovery rates for coronavirus sufferers admitted to hospital.
The vast majority of other less serious cases have not been documented because sufferers were not able to get tested.
Recovery rates’ publication is signals victory for a campaign for the move, lead by renowned cancer specialist Professor Karol Sikora.
Prof Sikora, a former director of the WHO’s Cancer Programme, told HOAR he was “delighted” at the news.
The professor added: “The number of patients recovered is the best way to tell you how a country is really doing in its fight against the virus.
“Seeing such a high number have recovered is a very positive thing, and it should help persuade people to go out again and go back to work if they take the right precautions.
“It should also be able to tell the Government about the speech of the lockdown’s release, whether it’s going too fast or too slow.“
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