Covid deaths up for another week with 40% rise in fatalities – as latest wave ‘peaks’

This is up 41 per cent on the previous week and is the highest number since the seven days to August 12.

The rise is being driven by the latest wave of Covid-19 infections, which has been under way since the start of September.

Currently, Omicron is the main strain circulating, which has been proven to be milder than others that came before it.

There are early signs the current wave may be peaking.

According to the tracker, around one in 21 people in the UK have the bug - with numbers now also falling in the youngest age groups.

Experts at the symptom tracker app revealed there are currently an estimated 209,243 infections, down from 235,829 last week.

But it will be a while before this has an impact on death registrations.

This is because the trend in deaths lags behind the equivalent trend in infections due to the length of time between someone catching the virus and becoming seriously ill, as well as the time it takes for deaths to be registered.

During the previous wave of infections in the summer, deaths peaked at 810 in the week ending July 29.

This was well below the numbers seen during the early waves of the pandemic, when weekly deaths peaked around 10 times this level.

High levels of Covid antibodies among the population – either from vaccination or previous infection – mean the number of people seriously ill or dying from the virus this year has stayed low.

Meanwhile, cases of other deadly viruses are on the rise as immunity is low.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has increased by 18.5 per cent in cases among under 5's during the week ending on October 16 compared to the previous week.

Flu cases are also higher than usual for this time of year and are expected to soar in the coming weeks. 

If you've had the virus before, you might think you'd know exactly what to look out for.