LONDON (Reuters) – There are important issues with the provision and high quality of COVID-19 information in England, British researchers stated on Wednesday as they launched a dashboard to assist make sense of the patchwork of stats.

The COVID Response Analysis Dashboard (COVID RED) presents accessible statistics from Public Well being England (PHE), the Workplace for Nationwide Statistics (ONS) and the Nationwide Well being Service (NHS) and likewise highlights the place extra information are wanted.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has launched a three-tier system of native lockdowns for England in a bid to sort out native flare-ups in infections whereas avoiding a brand new nationwide lockdown.

“Growing volumes of information are being proven within the media and in authorities press conferences as a foundation for native tightening of restrictions,” stated Professor Christina Pagel of College School London, who co-developed the dashboard.

“Nonetheless, these information are sometimes from disparate sources and will not be linked collectively to offer a extra full image of how we’re doing. This was the motivation behind our dashboard growth.”

The researchers stated there have been gaps in info over whether or not confirmed COVID-19 circumstances had been adopted up, the variety of individuals isolating with signs in England, and in regards to the variety of individuals needing or receiving assist.

They added that always one of the best accessible information was as much as two weeks outdated, including that native lockdowns might solely be told by probably the most up-to-date info.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; modifying by Stephen Addison)