Coronavirus drops to eighth biggest killer in England as four times as many people died from dementia in July
COVID-19 is now the eighth biggest killer in England, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed.
Conditions such as dementia and heart disease have overtaken the virus, new monthly mortality analysis has shown.
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In July there were 38,179 deaths registered in England, with the coronavirus accounting for just 2.6 per cent of all deaths.
This equates to 976 deaths and the data showed that Covid did not feature in the top ten leading causes of death in Wales.
The ONS stated that the leading causes of death in July were dementia and Alzheimer's disease which accounted for 10.6 per cent of all deaths in England, and ischaemic heart disease which accounted for 11.7 per cent of all deaths in Wales.
Alzheimer's disease has been the leading cause of death in England since 2015.
In July it accounted for 4,034 deaths in England.
At the height of the pandemic in April, Covid-19 killed 623 people per 100,000 in England.
The data released by the ONS today could be a sign that the pandemic is on its way out as less people succumb to the virus.
The ONS stated that in most cases where Covid was present on the death certificate - it was the leading cause of death.
It states: "The doctor certifying a death can list all causes in the chain of events that led to the death, and pre-existing conditions that may have contributed to the death.
"Using this information, we determine an underlying cause of death."
It added that some of the deaths recorded as Covid-19 are not certain.
"Of the 47,674 deaths with an underlying cause of Covid-19 in England and Wales, 3,864 (8.1 per cent) were classified as "suspected" Covid-19."
Mortality rates due to Covid-19 have decreased significantly since April.
In July there were 21.0 deaths due to Covid-19 per 100,000 people in England.
This is a 96.6 per cent decrease compared to April when there were 623.2 deaths per 100,00 people.
In July the numbers dropped below levels seen in March, which was the first month a Covid-related death was registered in England.
Looking at the age of people who died in July the ONS stated that compared with July 2019, the mortality rate in July 2020 has declined significantly for both males and females aged 75 years and over in England.
From January to July 2020 there have been 351,372 deaths registered in England and 22,125 in Wales.
In June the coronavirus dropped from being England's biggest killer.
Dementia and Alzheimer's disease was the leading cause of death in June, followed by coronary heart diseases and then Covid-19.
In May Covid-19 was the most frequent underlying cause of death and accounted for 21.6 per cent of all deaths.
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The data release from the ONS today comes after it was revealed that coronavirus hospital admissions were over counted.
An investigation for the Government's Science Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) found that people were being counted as Covid hospital admissions if they had ever had the virus.
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Government figures show that, at the peak of the pandemic in early April, nearly 20,000 people a week were being admitted to hospital with coronavirus - but the true figure is now unknown because of the problem with over-counting.
This over-counting mirrors the problems with data for coronavirus deaths - where people who had died of other causes were being included in Covid-19 statistics if they had once tested positive.