Death figures falling back towards pre-pandemic level

tHE number of Britons who are dying each week has fallen back towards the levels that would be expected in an ordinary year, official figures revealed yesterday.

Deaths registered during the last week of May were just 20 per cent over the five-year average for the time of year, the Office for National statistics said.

For the first time this year, the number of people who died in England and Wales in a week was below 10,000 – 9,824 – and deaths linked to Covid-19 made up fewer than one in five of them.

And while levels of deaths in care homes remained high, the ONs said they are also expected to fall back in the coming weeks.

But the good news on the apparent decline of the pandemic came alongside sobering figures for the numbers who have died during the outbreak. Across Britain, 63,708 more people than the five-year average figure have died this year. In 50,107 cases, the death certificate filled in by a doctor mentioned Covid-19.

the 9,824 deaths in England and Wales in the week ending May 29 was 2,464 fewer than the previous week. But the ONs warned that the figure may have been pushed down because few deaths were registered on the Bank Holiday on Monday, May 25. the 1,653 ‘excess’ deaths were 20.2 per cent higher than the five-year average for the week.

the death registration figures showed there were 2,503 deaths in care homes in England and Wales in the week to May 29, of which 705 involved Covid-19. the proportion of deaths in care homes was down to 25.5 per cent, compared to more than a third at the pandemic’s peak.

the number of deaths in care homes was 819 higher than the five-year average.