Covid-19 deaths in England and Wales down by 92% from second wave peak

8 April 2021, 15:55 | Updated: 8 April 2021, 21:52

The number of weekly coronavirus deaths in England and Wales has fallen by 92 per cent from the second wave peak roughly two months ago, official figures show.

Some 712 deaths involving Covid-19 occurred in the week ending March 19, down from 8,945 deaths in the week ending January 22, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

A total of 379 Covid-19 deaths in the 80 and over age group occurred in England and Wales in the week ending March 19, down 92.9% from 5,354 deaths in the week ending January 22.

Deaths for those aged 75-79 dropped 93.4% in the same period, compared with falls of 92.4% for those aged 70-74, 90.8% for those aged 65-69 and 83.7% for those aged 60-64.

Deaths that occurred in the most recent week of reporting, the week to March 26, are still being registered.

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Adults aged 80 and over were included in the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's second priority group for the vaccine, followed by those aged 75 and over, and 70 and over.

Doses were first offered from early December.

By mid-February, the Government said it had offered the jab to everyone in these groups.

The figures also show that overall registered deaths in England and Wales remained below the five-year average for the third week running.

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Some 10,045 deaths were registered in the week to March 26, 5.0% below the average for the corresponding period in 2015-19.

Prior to the three most recent weeks, the last time deaths had been below average was in the week to September 4 2020.

A total of 719 deaths registered in the week ending March 26 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, the lowest number since the week ending October 16.

The figure is down 25% on the previous week's total.

Around one in 14 (7.2%) of all deaths registered that week mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.

Some 150 care home resident deaths involving Covid-19 were registered, down nearly a quarter (23%) from the previous week.

A total of 42,103 care home residents in England and Wales have now had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began.

The ONS figures cover deaths of care home residents in all settings, not just in care homes.

Overall, 150,837 deaths have now occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.

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It comes as a recent study suggested that the prevalence of Covid-19 cases in England fell by around 60 per cent from February to March.

Infection rates dropped in all age groups and regions across both months but recent data indicates the decline is "levelling off", researchers said.

Figures also suggest that the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines could be "breaking the link" between cases, deaths and hospital admissions.

The latest round of the Real-Time Assessment of Community Transmission (React-1) study found that, on average, one in 500 people was still infected with Covid-19 in March.

Researchers said there had been "big falls" in the prevalence of the virus in the South East and London from February to March.

However, they added that there are still "persistent areas of higher prevalence" of the virus in the southern part of Yorkshire, and parts of the East Midlands and the North West.