What's the problem? We are told that virtually everybody here is vaccinated, and most scientists seem to agree that Omicron isn't mutated enough to dodge the vaccine completely. We don't even know if this strain is lethal yet. Never mind.

Would be helpful if somebody explained something to me...

When they give you the Covid numbers on the news every night, they say how many people have died today from Covid. Or do they? See, the words they use are "People who have died FOR ANY REASON within 28 days of a positive test."

So, Mr Bloggs tests positive (PCR, not lateral flow) for Covid. He proceeds to self-isolate for the mandatory 10 days. On Day 11, he sets out to go to work, and is killed in a car crash.

So, according to the BBC at least, he will be counted as having died from Covid because, even though the cause of death was the engine block that went through his chest, it did so within 28 days of his positive test.

How many people who are counted as having died from Covid, have actually died as a direct result of the virus and not of an unrelated cause whilst infected with it?

Granted, with the elderly, or those suffering from various co-morbidities, it's not always easy to tell, but I do think that an organisation as experienced as the BBC would have found a better way to say things. You know, something like "The number of deaths from Covid in the last 24 hours was X. There were also Y deaths in which Covid may have been a contributing factor. This makes the total of potentailly Covid-related deaths (X+Y)."

Or am I being picky again?