Coronavirus no longer England’s biggest killer for first time as new figures show more people died from dementia in June

CORONAVIRUS is no longer the leading cause of death in England and Wales for the first time since March, new figures reveal.

Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that there were 50,335 deaths involving Covid-19 between March 1 and June 30 this year.

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Of these 46,746 had Covid as an underlying cause of death.

Dementia and Alzheimer's disease was the leading cause of death in June, followed by coronary heart diseases and then Covid-19.

But deaths from these three leading causes have decreased below the levels seen in March, according to figures released today.

The new data from the ONS could mean that we are seeing a return to pre-pandemic levels.

In June, just 7.1 per cent of all deaths - around 2,525 - were due to Covid-19.

The ONS states this is a “large decrease compared with the proportion seen in May, when Covid-19 was the most frequent underlying cause of death and accounted for 21.6 per cent of all deaths.”

Dementia and Alzheimer's disease and coronary heart disease were the top causes of death.

These were also the most common main pre-existing conditions found among deaths involving Covid-19.

They equated to 12,896 deaths, so over 25 per cent of all deaths involving Covid between March and June.

The report stated: “Dementia and Alzheimer's disease was the leading cause of death in June, followed by Ischaemic heart diseases and COVID-19. Deaths from these three leading causes have decreased below the levels seen in March 2020.

“For England specifically, Dementia and Alzheimer's disease was the underlying cause of 3,485 deaths, 10.4 per cent of the total".

This was over a third higher than deaths where Covid-19 was the underlying cause (2,393 deaths).

“The age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) of deaths due to Covid-19 was 53.0 per 100,000 persons, a quarter of the rate reported in May.”

Looking at the figures compared with a five year average the rate of deaths due to Dementia and Alzheimer's was lower in June 2020 at 77.0 deaths per 100,000.

The five year average is 95.5 deaths per 100,000.

All other leading causes were lower than the five year average.

Looking specifically at Wales and Dementia and Alzheimer's disease was also the leading cause of deaths in the area.

This was almost double the number of deaths due to Covid-19 with 131 deaths (5.7 per cent) of all deaths.

“The rates of deaths due to chronic lower respiratory diseases and influenza and pneumonia were significantly lower than their five-year averages.”

In June, the age-standardised mortality rate for both influenza and pneumonia was 30.8 deaths per 100,000 of the population compared with 51.0 for the five-year average.

This is while the age-standardised mortality rate for chronic low respiratory diseases was 35 deaths per 100,000 and 50 for the five-year average.

In June the rate of deaths from all causes was 742 deaths per 100,000 people in England.

In Wales both mortality rates were significantly lower than the five-year average, coming in at 860.5 for England and 924.0 for Wales.

The ONS did however highlight that “small increases in rates are expected over time as more deaths that occurred in June are registered”.