On 6 April 2020, Hosking made comments about COVID-19 death rates, stating that deaths were much the same as during the flu season two years ago and claimed that "almost everybody in Italy said to have died of Covid-19 had in fact died 'with the virus' – but not 'of it'." A complaint about his comments was made to the Broadcasting Standards Authority. It was upheld and the ruling, recorded on 14 September 2020, summarised that "Mr Hosking’s comments about people with underlying health conditions and Italy’s death-rate statistics breached the accuracy and discrimination and denigration standards of the Radio Code of Broadcasting Practice". The BSA noted that "Mr Hosking did not consider or acknowledge the possibility that [these people] may have died a lot sooner than they might otherwise have, due to contracting Covid-19,” [and that] "the broadcast had the potential to mislead listeners about the facts behind Mr Hosking’s relatively strong views critiquing the Government’s measures to manage the impact of Covid-19.”
