No worries HC and apologies if I went off on one.
I think it’s really difficult to estimate with any real accuracy the overall infection rate, as there’s so much about this virus that we still don’t know. I suppose that’s the whole point of this thread, as there are differences of opinion amongst the scientific community themselves.
What we do know for sure, is that it’s significantly higher than the official figures. That was already the case even before we started restricting testing to those who require hospital treatment (or are members of the Royal Family).
The Chief Scientific Adviser reckons that there are approximately 1,000 cases per recorded death, which would equate to roughly half a million in the UK. This study from Oxford University suggests it’s possible 50% of the population has had it, which would mean 34 million.
Which of those two extremes is right, or where the figure actually falls in between, I wouldn’t like to guess.