One doctor thinks, based on the figures from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, that the death rate from the coronavirus is way overstated. From Rachel Sharp at dailymail.co.uk:
Leading Harvard doctor says coronavirus is NOT as deadly as feared because only a small number of contained cruise ship passengers have died and only 0.001% of China’s average 25,000 deaths a day are from the virus
- Dr Jeremy Samuel Faust said people should not be anxious about the outbreak and stop hoarding food and masks
- He claimed that the coronavirus death rate is less than 1 percent – far lower than the World Health Organization’s alarming figures of 3.4 percent
- The doctor slammed the ‘frightening numbers’ which overstate the risk
- Faust said that looking at the doomed Diamond Princess cruise ship gives a better indication of how fatal the disease is than global statistics
- Around 705 passengers out of the 3,711 on board the boat caught coronavirus
- Only six people from the boat have died, giving a death rate of 0.85 percent, and all deaths are in people over 70
- He casts doubt on China’s death toll, saying many happened in areas where the death rate is already higher than the norm and respiratory issues are rife
- He also pointed out that 25,000 people die in China every day, while just 25 coronavirus deaths were reported per day at the height of the outbreak
- Instead of stockpiling food, Faust said the public should be helping the elderly and infirm who are most at risk
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