Flu and pneumonia are now killing six times as many people as the coronavirus, official figures show as the UK continues to reap the rewards of its strict Covid-19 lockdown.
Latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed the viral illnesses killed 1,013 people in England and Wales in the week up to August 7, compared to 152 patients who lost their lives to coronavirus.
By contrast, there were almost 9,000 weekly deaths attributed to Covid-19 during the darkest days of the crisis in April and just 2,000 from flu and pneumonia.
The 152 registered deaths from coronavirus this week is down by a fifth on last week’s 193 and marks the lowest number of victims in 20 weeks — before the UK locked down in late March.
Officials today announced just six more fatalities in the preliminary toll, including five victims in hospitals across England and one more in Northern Ireland.
A full round-up of the total number of fatalities — which will include all settings in England and not just hospitals — will be published later by the Department of Health.
For comparison, just three laboratory-confirmed coronavirus deaths were recorded in Britain yesterday as well as 13 last Tuesday. The government’s death toll currently stands at 41,369.
Flu and pneumonia are now killing six times as many people as the coronavirus. Deaths from Covid-19 have decreased for 16 weeks in a row
Six regions of England had deaths below the five-year average in the week ending August 7 – they were south-east England (0.2 per cent below), the West Midlands (0.6 per cent below), south-west England (4.4 per cent below), Eastern England (4.5 per cent below), London (4.5 per cent below) and Yorkshire & the Humber (5.4 per cent below)
Deaths from all causes remain below the five-year average thanks to a plummet in hospital and care home fatalities. But the volume of people dying in their homes is more than would be expected
The most amount of deaths attributed to Covid-19 ocurred in the week ending April 19, when 8,758 people died to the viral disease. In that same week, there were 2,034 flu and pneumonia deaths.
Deaths from all causes remain below the five-year average thanks to a plummet in hospital and care home fatalities.
But the volume of people dying in their homes is more than would be expected – 702 additional people passed away compared to the five-year average.
Experts say many people are still too scared to use the NHS for fear of catching Covid-19, while others simply don’t want to be a burden on the stretched NHS.
Six regions of England had deaths below the five-year average in the week ending August 7, the ONS report found.
They were south-east England (0.2 per cent below), the West Midlands (0.6 per cent below), south-west England (4.4 per cent below), Eastern England (4.5 per cent below), London (4.5 per cent below) and Yorkshire & the Humber (5.4 per cent below).
In three regions the number of registered deaths was above the five-year average: north-west England (0.6 per cent), north-east England (0.8 per cent) and the East Midlands (4.9 per cent). In Wales, the number of deaths registered in the week to August 7 was 1.4 per cent below the five-year average.
The ONS now estimates that 51,935 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in England and Wales up to August 7, and had been registered by August 15.
Figures published last week by the National Records for Scotland showed that 4,213 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to August 9 while 859 deaths had occurred in Northern Ireland up to August 7 (and had been registered up to August 12) according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
Together, these figures mean that so far 57,007 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.
This tally differs from the official toll reported each day by Public Health England (PHE) due to different methods used to calculate fatalities.
PHE only includes victims who died after a Covid-19-positive swab, whereas the ONS looks at all patients who had the virus mentioned on their death certificate as a possible cause.
It means the Government’s official count is much lower, at 41,369. But PHE was forced to slash 5,000 deaths from the tally last week after it emerged a statistical flaw was skewing the figures upwards.
PHE was classing people as Covid-19 victims if they died months after recovering from the virus – even if they passed away from totally unrelated causes such as a car crash or freak accident.
The Government now only includes deaths which occurred within 28 days of a positive test result being logged – bringing it in line with Scotland and Northern Ireland.