It would only add about 1% to the total if they were included in overall figures.
30 Jul 2021 | Full Fact's weekly news
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FACT CHECK
Reinfections don’t seriously underestimate the number of Covid deaths
ITV News’s political editor Robert Peston said in a tweet that the number of Covid-19 cases being reported each day on the government’s Coronavirus Dashboard “seriously understates” the real number, because people who catch the disease more than once are not counted after the first time.
It is true that these reinfections are not counted as new cases on the dashboard, but it’s unlikely that they would have much effect on the overall number of Covid cases.
The proportion of cases that are suspected reinfections changes from week to week, but the overall rate has been estimated by a PHE epidemiologist at around 1%.
Mr Peston has since clarified that his concern was that “the quality of the dashboard infections data was not what it should be because of the policy driven exclusion of those who have been infected a second time”.
How reinfections are estimated ([link removed])
FACT CHECK
Was Dawn Butler right about Boris Johnson ‘lying’ to Parliament? ([link removed])
In a speech to Parliament on 22 July, the Labour MP Dawn Butler said that Boris Johnson “has lied to this House and the country, over and over again”.
Ms Butler did not withdraw her comments and was asked to leave the House for the rest of the day, since accusations of “deliberate falsehood” must only be made with prior permission of the Speaker, according to Parliamentary rules.
Most of Ms Butler’s claims originated from a widely viewed video from the lawyer and campaigner Peter Stefanovic. She claimed that Mr Johnson inflated economic growth and public funding under the Conservatives, and overstated the effect of vaccines.
It is often impossible to say for sure whether somebody is “lying”. However, it is correct that the majority of Mr Johnson’s claims that Ms Butler mentioned were either false or misleading.
See the claims ([link removed])
With public debate increasingly toxic and divided, the honesty of our politicians matters ([link removed])
There are rules about "unparliamentary language". And there is also the Ministerial Code.
Any Minister that has not given accurate or truthful information to Parliament is obliged to correct this at the earliest opportunity.
We look forward to hearing from the Prime Minister on 6 September.
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FACT CHECK
Mandatory Covid-19 vaccine is only for care home workers ([link removed])
A post on Facebook claims that a law mandating the Covid-19 vaccine has been passed through the House of Lords without an impact assessment.
This is true, but refers only to an amendment of the Health and Social Care Act which will make it a requirement for care home workers to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from October.
It is not mandatory for anyone else to have a Covid-19 vaccination.
More about the amendment ([link removed])
MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
* Facebook post on tetanus jabs gets a lot wrong ([link removed])
* Vaccines reduce the risk of death but don’t eliminate it altogether ([link removed])
* Boris Johnson hasn’t had three Covid-19 vaccines ([link removed])
* Tanks in Paris were almost certainly there for Bastille Day ([link removed])
* Daily cancer deaths not higher than those from Covid during last 40 days ([link removed])
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