Coronavirus deaths in England and Wales fall to lowest weekly total since lockdown in sign pandemic is easing

The number of people dying with Covid-19 in England and Wales has fallen to the lowest weekly level since lockdown was imposed, new figures showed today.

A total of 1,114 death certificates mentioned coronavirus in the week ending on June 12, down 474 (30 per cent) on the 1,588 in the previous week, the Office for National Statistics said.

For the first time since lockdown, there was no increase in deaths in any age group.

But the number of “excess deaths” – those above the average for the time of year - in the UK since lockdown was imposed on March 23 has now passed 65,000.

Of these excess deaths, more than 54,000 are known to be directly linked to Covid, while the others may have resulted from the knock-on impact of the pandemic as people delayed seeking medical care or were not reached in time by emergency crews.

Today’s weekly figures for England and Wales appear to show the lowest number of Covid deaths since the week ending March 27, when revised ONS figures show 539 people died with the virus.

Today’s figures appear to be the lowest in 11 weeks and are the eighth successive weekly fall in coronavirus deaths.

There were 71 Covid deaths in the week in London, the same number as in the North East. Only the South West (48) and Wales (57) recorded fewer deaths. The North West was the highest for the sixth successive week, with 196 deaths. There were 174 deaths in the South-East.

The total number of deaths recorded by the ONS up to June 12 in England and Wales, and registered by June 20, now stands at 48,866.

This is more than 9,000 more in England than was declared by the NHS by the same time – again showing how the daily Government figures fail to capture the full extent of the pandemic.

Yesterday the Government’s official record of the UK death toll increased by 15 to 42,647. This included one death in London in the previous 24 hours, taking the official count of the number of hospital deaths in the capital to 6,073. The number of London deaths has been in single figures since June 8.

Since March 21, 178,372 deaths from all causes have been registered in England and Wales - 59,252 more than the five-year average, the ONS said.

There have been 4,877 excess deaths in Scotland and 972 in Northern Ireland. This means the total number of excess deaths in the UK since lockdown stands at 65,101.

In the most recent week, 11.2 per cent of all deaths in England and Wales involved Covid.

The total number of Covid deaths in care homes now stands at 13,735 in England – including 188 in the most recent week - and 663 in Wales.

Of all deaths involving Covid to date, 63.6 per cent have occurred in hospital with the remainder mainly occurring in care homes (29.7 per cent), private homes (4.5 per cent) or hospices (1.4 per cent).

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