UK Statistics Authority criticise Northern Ireland COVID-19 data

by Peter Moor.

The UK Statistics Authority have criticised Northern Ireland's approach to publishing data on the spread of COVID-19.

In a letter to the permanent health secretary, Richard Pengelly, they criticise publication of only partially complete daily statistics.

Ed Humpherson, DIrector of General Relation at the Statistics Authority wrote in the letter:

"The background is that over the past two weeks there have been a number of changes to the reporting of these figures for Northern Ireland. Responsibility for the daily reporting of surveillance data moved from the Public Health Authority (PHA) to Department of Health (DoH) on Sunday 19th April (at 5pm) with the release of a COVID-19 Statistics dashboard.

"This dashboard was suspended two days later on the grounds that a figure in it was incorrect, with limited explanation of the nature of the error. In place of the dashboard, less complete daily statistics are now being released by the DoH through daily news releases on the departmental website and through Twitter announcements.

UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) in NI. pic.twitter.com/vwsJphuaQ8

— Department of Health (@healthdpt) April 30, 2020

The letter criticises the data releases, like this one, that are published daily on Twitter.

"It is clear that the Department wants to address these issues and resume publication of a comprehensive set of data on COVID-19, once you are assured of the quality of the data. The figures for COVID-19 are of huge public interest"

The letter particularly criticises gaps in data and the lack of transparency and accessibility of the statistics that are being released.

Ending the letter, Mr Humphersron invited Mr Pengelly for a discussion on this issue:

"I know there is serious public concern about the changes that have been made to the COVID-19 statistics and I look forward to your reply. I would be happy to discuss."