Sajid Javid is right to argue against scrapping the Office for National Statistics. National studies have provided vital information to support decision-making.
For a real-time health system to be reliable and cost-effective, it has to rely on more than one test. The data sets are likely to be biased as it is not possible to know how many people are reporting negative results and how many are not testing. If we are to get reliable information about the prevalence of Covid, we need to keep studies such as the ONS and React to allow us to estimate infectiousness and the proportion of the population who are not sick.
The future health of the public will be put at risk if the system is disrupted. If important studies need to be scaled down, this can't be led by arbitrary cost-cutting targets, but should be led by statisticians to ensure reliable information. The president of the Royal Statistical Society is Sylvia Richardson.
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