England and Wales see lowest number of weekly coronavirus deaths in nearly six months, ONS figures show

England and Wales have registered the lowest number of deaths involving Covid-19 in nearly six months, according to latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The ONS data showed that of deaths registered in the week ending August 21, 138 mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate.

This was a 0.7 per cent decrease on the previous week, which saw 139 deaths linked to the virus, and means Covid-19 accounted for 1.4 per cent of all deaths in the two countries in the week.

The statistics body highlighted that this was “the lowest number of deaths involving Covid-19 in the last 22 weeks”.

A total of 9,631 deaths were registered in England and Wales during that period, 474 deaths above the five-year average and up 239 on the previous week.

The number of deaths at home increased in the period, while number of deaths in hospitals was lower than the five-year average
PA

However, the research report pointed out that although the overall number of deaths registered in the week to August 21 was 5.2 per cent above the five-year average, “the rise was not driven by the coronavirus”.

London saw 920 deaths during the week, at 7.9 per cent above the five year average of 853.

Two regions, the north east and Yorkshire and the Humber, saw fewer overall deaths than the five-year average, at 1.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent lower respectively.

The numbers of deaths in hospitals, care homes and other locations were below the five-year average in the week, while the number of deaths in private homes continued to be higher than the five-year average, at 825 more deaths.

The statistics body also published a new figure showing that over 57,300 deaths involving Covid-19 have now been registered in the UK in total.

Figures show that 52,217 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in England and Wales up to August 21, and had been registered by August 29.

Figures published last week by the National Records for Scotland showed that 4,222 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to August 23, while 871 deaths had occurred in Northern Ireland up to August 21 (and had been registered up to August 26) according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Together, these figures mean that so far 57,310 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.