Covid-19 deaths in England and Wales remain way above pre-lockdown levels

Coronavirus (Covid-19) related deaths in England and Wales have fallen to their lowest number since lockdown was first implemented, the latest weekly data shows. But the figure remains nearly three times as high as it was when lockdown began.

A total of 1,588 deaths registered in the week ending June 5 mentioned Covid-19, down from 1,822 in the previous seven-day period, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

It is the lowest number since 539 coronavirus-related deaths were registered in the week ending 27 March, four days after prime minister Boris Johnson introduced strict lockdown measures in an effort to halt the spread of the virus.

The latest figures mean 14.8% of all deaths in England and Wales during the week ending 5 June were coronavirus-related – down from 18.5% the week before.

It means the percentage of deaths involving Covid-19 declined for the seventh week running.

The figures also show 64% of all deaths registered this year up to 5 June (30,175 people) occurred in hospital.

A further 30% (14,028 deaths) took place in care homes, with 5% (2,152) in private homes, 1% (640) in hospices, 0.5% (214) in other communal establishments, and 0.4% (178) elsewhere.

The weekly breakdown shows there were 564 coronavirus deaths in care homes in the week ending 5 June, down from 705 the previous week and 1,090 the week before that.

The figures also show that the number of excess deaths across the whole of the UK since the coronavirus outbreak began has passed 64,000.

Tuesday’s ONS data shows there were 58,693 excess deaths in England and Wales between 21 March and 5 June, while figures from the National Records of Scotland add an additional 4,769 excess deaths in Scotland between 23 March and 7 June, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency put the figure for Northern Ireland at 940 excess deaths between 21 March and 5 June.

Together, this means the total number of excess deaths in the UK across this period now stands at 64,402.

Additionally, the number of deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK has now passed 53,000, according to the latest available data.

The data shows there was a greater number of coronavirus-related deaths registered for the week ending 5 June in the north-west of England (250) than any other region in England and Wales.

The south-east of England registered 219, and Yorkshire and the Humber had 210.

The number was down from 282 in the North West the previous week, but this means the region has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in four of the last five weeks.

All figures are provisional and based on death registrations, which can result in a lag between the date the person dies and when it is recorded.