London and the South East both bucked the national trend with an increase in coronavirus deaths, the latest weekly figures revealed today.
Data from the Office from National Statistics showed there were 193 deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales in the week ending on July 31.
This is 24 fewer than the 217 in the preceding week and is the second lowest weekly figure recorded since the start of the pandemic in March, 19 weeks ago.
It is also the seventh consecutive week that deaths from all causes have fallen below the five-year average for this time of year.
It came as the total number of coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed 20 million, according to research by Johns Hopkins university in the US.
Today’s ONS statistics showed the number of deaths of people with Covid-19 increased week on week from 16 to 22 in London.
However the total number of deaths of all causes in the capital (773) was below the five-year average for this week (838) – the fourth successive week that the capital has been below the seasonal average.
There was also an increase in coronavirus deaths across the wider South East outside London, up from 40 to 45.
This helped take the South East’s total overall death toll for the week (1,447 deaths) above the five-year weekly average (1,339) for the first time in four weeks.