At last, no rise in the weekly death rate

THE rise in weekly virus deaths has halted for the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak began.

The week ending June 12 saw the fewest fatalities for almost three months, with the virus mentioned on 1,114 death certificates.

Compared with the previous week deaths dropped in all but one age group – the 25 to 29s – where the total remained at one.

The total number of deaths from all causes was just 559 above the five-year average and the lowest since the week ending March 20, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Britain’s daily coronavirus death toll rose to 171 yesterday – likely due in part to the figures catching up with delayed reporting over the weekend.

Fooled

Along with a further 109 deaths from April, May and June that had not previously been counted, it brought the overall toll to 42,927.

The seven-day rolling average now stands at 121 deaths, down from 943 at the peak of the epidemic.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick-Vallance said: “It is coming back down towards baseline, towards normal.

“But don’t be fooled that this means it’s gone away.The disease is growing across the world.”

Carl Heneghan, professor of evidencebased medicine at Oxford University, said the UK may see a brief period of no coronavirus deaths.

But he warned, unless care home outbreaks were brought under control virus deaths could linger until the end of July.

The ONS figures take the total number of UK deaths involving Covid-19 past 54,000. Overall, the number of excess deaths has passed 65,000.