In my country the number of deaths by COVID-19 is under-reported. Instead we have an increased number of deaths labled as "atypical pneumonia". When comparing the normal number of deaths to the ones from previous years there is a significant difference but the government wants to pretend that things are under control...they are not.
Keep in mind that the incentives for how things are managed in the health care sector are different from country to country and you can't generalize a conclusion from data that comes from one country...even if it's an important one like the UK or the US.