Number of deaths falls below average for SECOND week in a row

Britain today announced 40 more coronavirus deaths in the preliminary toll as separate data showed no excess deaths have been recorded in England and Wales for the second week in a row. 

Department of Health chiefs have yet to confirm the final daily figure, which is often much higher because it takes into account lab-confirmed fatalities in all settings. 

The early count — which only includes a fraction of the Covid-19 deaths in England — is calculated by adding up the individual updates declared by each of the home nations.

NHS England today posted 36 deaths in hospitals across the country. Three Covid-19 fatalities were recorded in all settings in Wales, one in Scotland and none again in Northern Ireland.  

For comparison, only 22 deaths were recorded yesterday — but tolls on Sundays and Mondays are always much lower because of a recording delay at weekends. 

Separate government data today confirmed the coronavirus outbreak is continuing to fizzle out, with 8,979 deaths recorded in the week that ended June 26 in England and Wales — 3.4 per cent fewer than average. 

Coronavirus is likely to have brought forward some deaths of older and vulnerable people which could prompt a period of below-average deaths, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. 

In other coronavirus developments in Britain today:

  • Boris Johnson refused to apologise for blaming care homes for their residents dying in Britain’s coronavirus crisis after triggering a blazing row by accusing them of not following proper infection control procedures;
  • Chancellor Rishi Sunak will not delay a stamp duty cut slated for his mini-Budget tomorrow after warnings that the housing market would be wrecked for months because of coronavirus; 
  • High street footfall was down 50 per cent year on year in the third week of shops reopening in England and Northern Ireland, prompting serious concerns about the long term future of town and city centres.

ONLY THE NORTH EAST RECORDED MORE COVID-19 DEATHS THAN THE WEEK BEFORE

REGION 

North East

North West

Yorkshire 

East Midlands

West Midlands

East

London

South East

South West

Wales

COVID DEATHS 

32

120

69

89

69

59

35

85

16

30

LAST WEEK  

30

134

111

96

93

77

50

117

36

39

Department of Health figures released yesterday showed 143,000 tests were carried out or posted the day before. The number includes antibody tests for frontline NHS and care workers.

But bosses again refused to say how many people were tested, meaning the exact number of Brits who have been swabbed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a mystery for a month — since May 22.

Health chiefs also reported 352 more cases of Covid-19. Government statistics show the official size of the UK’s  outbreak now stands at 285,768 cases. 

But the actual size of the outbreak, which began to spiral out of control in March, is estimated to be in the millions, based on antibody testing data.

The daily death data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours — it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities.

The data does not always match updates provided by the home nations. Department of Health officials work off a different time cut-off, meaning daily updates from Scotland as well as Northern Ireland are always out of sync.

And the count announced by NHS England every afternoon — which only takes into account deaths in hospitals — does not match up with the DH figures because they work off a different recording system.

For instance, some deaths announced by NHS England bosses will have already been counted by the Department of Health, which records fatalities ‘as soon as they are available’.  

More than 1,000 infected Brits died each day during the darkest days of the crisis in mid-April but the number of victims had been dropping by around 20 to 30 per cent week-on-week since the start of May.

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE REALLY DIED OF THE CORONAVIRUS?

Department of Health: 44,236

Department of Health’s latest death count for all settings stands at 44,236.

The daily data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours — it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities. 

It also only takes into account patients who tested positive for the virus, as opposed to deaths suspected to be down to the coronavirus.  

National statistical bodies: 55,198

Data compiled by the statistical bodies of each of the home nations show 55,198 people died of either confirmed or suspected Covid-19 across the UK by the end of May.

The Office for National Statistics yesterday confirmed that 50,219 people in England and Wales died with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 by June 19.

The number of coronavirus deaths was 824 by the same day in Northern Ireland, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

National Records Scotland — which collects statistics north of the border — said 4,155 people had died across the country by June 22.

Their tallies are always 10 days behind the Department of Health (DH) because they wait until as many fatalities as possible for each date have been counted, to avoid having to revise their statistics.

Excess deaths: 65,249

The total number of excess deaths has now passed 65,000. 

Excess deaths are considered to be an accurate measure of the number of people killed by the pandemic because they include a broader spectrum of victims.

As well as including people who may have died with Covid-19 without ever being tested, the data also shows how many more people died because their medical treatment was postponed, for example, or who didn’t or couldn’t get to hospital when they were seriously ill.

Data from England and Wales shows there has been an extra 59,324 deaths between March 15 and June 12, as well as 4,924 in Scotland between March 10 and June 22 and 1,001 in Northern Ireland between March 28 and June 26. 

But Department of Health data shows the rolling seven-day average of deaths shrunk by only 10 per cent or less during the start of July, and last Wednesday it was marginally higher than the week before. 

It corresponds with other official figures suggesting the coronavirus outbreak is stagnant, as officials last week estimated around 3,500 people are still getting infected every day in England alone.

However, the rate has barely changed since mid-June, when data suggested 3,800 cases occurred each day. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) warned the speed at which the outbreak is declining has ‘levelled off’. 

Leading scientists have repeatedly warned of another spike in coronavirus cases because of the lockdown being eased, meaning infections could spike again in the coming days. 

More than 55,000 deaths involving Covid-19 have been recorded in the UK during the outbreak, with the virus the main reason for deaths increasing above what would normally be expected for this period. 

The ONS said: ‘The disease has had a larger impact on those most vulnerable (for example, those who already suffer from a medical condition) and those at older ages.

‘Some of these deaths would have likely occurred over the duration of the year but have occurred earlier because of the coronavirus.

‘These deaths occurring earlier than expected could mean we start to see a period of deaths below the five-year average.’

Tuesday’s ONS figures show there were 8,979 deaths from all causes in England and Wales registered in the week ending June 26 – 314 deaths fewer than the five year average.

It is the second consecutive week that weekly deaths have dropped below average for this time of year. During the peak of the outbreak, almost 12,000 more deaths were being recorded each week.

Before the week that ended June 19, the last time deaths were below average was before the lockdown in the week ending March 13.

The figures show that registered deaths involving coronavirus had dropped in all but one region in England and Wales in the week ending June 26.

In the North East — which covers Northumberland, Durham, Tyne and Wear and Cleveland — there were two more deaths registered compared with the previous week.

All regions except the North West, East Midlands and North East saw overall registered deaths below that which would usually be expected for this time of year.

For the sixth week running, the number of deaths involving Covid-19 was the highest in the North West. The East Midlands had the highest proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 – 11.1 per cent of all deaths.

REVEALED: THE 20 AREAS OF THE UK THAT HAVE RECORDED THE MOST COVID-19 DEATHS 

AREA

Birmingham

County Durham

Leeds

Glasgow City

Liverpool

Sheffield

Cheshire East

Bradford

Croydon

Brent

Barnet

Wirral

City of Edinburgh

Ealing

Harrow

Cheshire West and Chester

Manchester

Buckinghamshire

Enfield

Walsall

TOTAL DEATHS 

1,204

697

693

643

570

562

531

490

489

486

453

427

422

405

396

390

390

388

385

380

Overall in England and Wales, there were 606 deaths involving Covid-19 in the week up to June 26 – the lowest number since the week ending March 27.

There have been 50,219 deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales up to June 26 (and registered by July 4), with 31,761 in hospitals, 14,852 in care homes, 2,288 in private homes, 691 in hospices, 223 in other communal establishments and 185 elsewhere.

Deaths from all causes in all settings were below the five-year average for the week ending June 26, except for in private homes, where 745 deaths were registered.

It comes as separate ONS data released today suggested black and Asian Britons are up to four times more likely to have had already fought off the coronavirus.

A government-run Covid-19 surveillance scheme, which has tested 36,000 people across England, revealed 4.5 per cent of white people had developed antibodies — substances created by the immune system in response to specific pathogens.

In comparison, the rate was 12.2 per cent for Asian Brits, 7.7 per cent for black people and as high as 16.7 per cent for other ethnic groups, according to the ONS report.

Results of swab tests — which tell if someone is currently infected and not if they have had it in the past — showed a similar discrepancy between ethnicity, with between 0.64 and 0.69 per cent of black and Asian people ever testing positive for the coronavirus.

Just 0.30 per cent of white people swabbed between April 26 and June 27 tested positive for the disease, which has already killed 55,000 Brits since the outbreak spiralled out of control in February.

Results also showed that the risk was nine times higher (2.69 per cent) for people of other ethnic groups, which included Arabs.

The ONS report also revealed just 33 per cent of people had any of the tell-tale Covid-19 symptoms, a cough, fever or loss of taste and smell, on the day they received their test results.

Statisticians today warned the findings do not prove for certain that people of BAME backgrounds are at greater risk of being infected.

But they add to mountain of evidence that has found people of BAME backgrounds are more likely to catch Covid-19 and become seriously ill or die from it than white people.

Black, Asian and ethnic minority Britons are up to FOUR TIMES more likely to test positive for Covid-19 or have antibodies against the disease than white people, official data reveals 

Black and Asian Britons are up to four times more likely to have had already fought off the coronavirus, official data today suggested.

A government-run Covid-19 surveillance scheme, which has tested 36,000 people across England, revealed 4.5 per cent of white people had developed antibodies — substances created by the immune system in response to specific pathogens.

In comparison, the rate was 12.2 per cent for Asian Brits, 7.7 per cent for black people and as high as 16.7 per cent for other ethnic groups, according to the report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Results of swab tests — which tell if someone is currently infected and not if they have had it in the past — showed a similar discrepancy between ethnicity, with between 0.64 and 0.69 per cent of black and Asian people ever testing positive for the coronavirus.

Just 0.30 per cent of white people swabbed between April 26 and June 27 tested positive for the disease, which has already killed 55,000 Brits since the outbreak spiralled out of control in February. 

Results also showed that the risk was nine times higher (2.69 per cent) for people of other ethnic groups, which included Arabs.

The ONS report also revealed just 33 per cent of people had any of the tell-tale Covid-19 symptoms, a cough, fever or loss of taste and smell, on the day they received their test results.

Statisticians today warned the findings do not prove for certain that people of BAME backgrounds are at greater risk of being infected. 

But they add to mountain of evidence that has found people of BAME backgrounds are more likely to catch Covid-19 and become seriously ill or die from it than white people.