“Although we claim three or four times more cases than is claimed by France, France has more than twice the number of people in intensive care?”
Overall, France has had fewer deaths than the UK both on a per capita basis and cumulative overall total (not by a lot as might be expected as their populations are similar in number). Looking at the ICU admissions in France they have been consistently almost double the UK mechanically ventilated figures over the entire pandemic timeframe. That doesn’t really add up. I suspect that the figures from France include all patients admitted to ICU whether they are ventilated or not whereas the figures from UK gov are for mechanically ventilated patients only. There are many admitted to ICU for oxygen support and close monitoring who are not ventilated. I don’t know this for sure as it’s difficult to find out the inclusion criteria in the figures used.
The total cases per million population for UK and France are almost identical with France slightly higher. Also, I’d like to be sure how the number of tests performed are counted. If 4 tests are performed on one person in the same episode that to me is one test not 4. Again, it’s difficult to find and if anyone can shed light on that please do so.