Covid daily death toll will not be scrapped despite MPs’ calls for it to end

Daily Covid data including case numbers, deaths and vaccination figures will not be scrapped despite the ending of legal Covid restrictions.

Government sources said there “no plans” to stop the release of daily figures, which come out every day around 4pm, despite MPs calling for it to end.

Tory MPs Sir Ian Duncan Smith is leading the calls for the figures to be scrapped.

Former party leader Sir Iain said it was “time to call time on project fear”.

He claimed the figures, which are reported by news publications on a daily basis, were sparking fear on a disproportionate level to the threat Covid posed.

Conservative Bob Seely told the Daily Mail: “I have never understood why we publish the figures in isolation unless the aim was simply to scare people.

“We do not publish figures for the deaths from flu or pneumonia on a daily basis and we should not do so for Covid.

“It was simply intended to scare people and it should stop immediately.”

But a source said the statistics would keep being published for many months.

“Obviously they will not continue forever, but there are no plans to stop publication at this stage,” the source said.

“We know we may face Covid again in the autumn and it seems sensible to keep this in place.”

Figures published by the UK Health Security Agency for infections, hospitalisations and deaths have all fallen in recent weeks.

Official figures showed that the UK recorded 68,214 positive infections and 276 Covid related deaths on Wednesday.

This is down from 141,472 cases reported a month earlier.

A further 97 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were recorded a month ago.