Lowered immunity may explain non-covid deaths rise

DEATHS are 20 per cent higher than normal in England and Wales, with experts warning that more than half are not related to Covid, and may be due to waning immunity to other diseases.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data show 1,853 excess deaths in the week ending Sept 10, compared to the pre-pandemic five-year average, but only 857 (46 per cent) were Covid.

Health experts said that although influenza cases are currently low, a rise in other diseases may be driving the increase. There are fears that restrictions to fight Covid, such as lockdown, masks and social distancing, have lowered immunity to other diseases.

Prof Paul Hunter, at the University of East Anglia, said: “So many excess deaths that cannot be explained by Covid is a concern. Respiratory deaths are particularly high this year compared to the average for 2015 to 2019.

“It could be that normal non-covid, non-influenza infections are causing more severe disease now that these infections are spreading again after a long period where they were not common and when our immunity was not being boosted by repeat exposure.”

In the week ending Sept 10, there were 11,035 deaths registered, 2,238 more than the previous week, although the ONS said that the August bank holiday would have caused a delay to registrations, meaning more would have been added in the most recent week.

The latest ONS mortality bulletin also shows that in August there were 9.9 per cent more deaths than usual in England, compared with the pre-pandemic average for the month, and 4.8 per cent more in Wales. There were 3,769 excess deaths for the month, with coronavirus accounting for 2,232, leaving 1,537 unaccounted for. It is the highest percentage of extra deaths since February.

Prof Kevin Mcconway, at The Open University, said: “It’s still not clear, to me at least, what is causing these excess deaths. In England, the death rates for eight of the top 10 causes are actually lower than they were, on average, in 2015-19.

The exceptions, where deaths were higher than average, are Covid-19, and the vague set of causes called ‘Symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions’.”

Covid was the third leading cause of death in England last month, the highest ranking since March, new figures show. The leading cause of death was dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (4,417 deaths), followed by ischaemic heart diseases (3,982 deaths).

Covid was the leading cause of death in England every month from November 2020 to February 2021.

In March it dropped from the top spot to third place, then fell to ninth in April, 24th in May and 26th in June. But it rose to ninth in July, before returning to third place last month.