Why daily death tolls have become unusually important in understanding the coronavirus pandemic

Why daily death tolls have become unusually important in understanding the coronavirus pandemic





Daily death tolls have become unusually important in understanding the coronavirus outbreak. Epidemiologists usually rely principally on the number of infections, or the ratio of deaths to infections — known as the case fatality rate. But the lack of testing in many countries and the virus’s ability to spread in people who don’t show symptoms mean that the reported number of daily deaths within a country is a surer tracker of disease progress and effectiveness of containment than are other measures. When the rate of new deaths per day starts to slow or reduces, it’s a good sign that the disease has peaked — and several countries are seeing early signs of this. (Nature | 5 min read)