Deaths in Britain 7.3 per cent below five-year average as Covid fatalities continue to fall

Deaths in Britain are now 7.3 per cent below the five-year average, with the number of people dying from Covid also continuing to drop.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that there were 766 fewer deaths in the week ending April 30 than would be expected for this time of year.

Deaths involving Covid in England and Wales have fallen to their lowest level since mid-September and now make up just 2.1 per cent of all deaths after decreasing by 198 in a week.

But there has also been a major slump in the numbers of people expected to die of other causes, suggesting many who would have ordinarily died around now may have died in earlier Covid waves.

This week's Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) report from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries said death rates in Britain were now at "historically low" levels, with cumulative excess deaths rates for the year now just 1.6 per cent above the 2011-2020 average.

Cobus Daneel, who chairs the CMI mortality projections committee, said: "Covid-19 deaths have fallen by 95 per cent in the last 10 weeks. We've also seen fewer deaths from other causes, meaning that mortality rates are at historically low levels for the time of year."

A total of 205 deaths registered in the week ending April 30 mentioned Covid on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – the lowest number since the week ending September 18. The figure is also down 21 per cent on the previous week.

Of those deaths, 68.3 per cent had Covid as the underlying cause, while for the remaining 31.7 per cent it was not the primary cause.

The total number of deaths registered in England and Wales was below the five-year average for the eighth consecutive week, the ONS said.

Prof Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, said: "It's pretty well entirely good news. In the latest week, the total number of deaths involving Covid-19 in all the ages under 45 was just nine, including just one person aged under 30.

"That's very sad, of course, for the friends and relatives of those who died, but compared to the 60 million population of England and Wales it's a very small number, and though it's higher than the previous week's count of four deaths, that's not important at a national level."

A total of 152,704 deaths have now occurred in the UK where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said. The highest number of deaths to occur on a single day was 1,477 on January 19.

During the first wave, the daily death toll peaked at 1,461 on April 8 last year.