Deaths from flu and pneumonia in England and Wales ten TIMES higher than Covid fatalities, ONS figures reveal

THE number of people dying with flu and pneumonia in England and Wales is now ten times higher than the number of those dying with Covid, figures show.

The latest weekly death data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show Covid was mentioned on 84 death certificates in the week ending June 11 while 1,163 deaths involved flu and pneumonia.

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The number of Covid deaths registered in the latest update are down 14 per cent on the week ending June 4, when 98 fatalities were recorded.

And deaths from the bug now make up just 0.8 per cent of all deaths – down from 1.3 per cent in the previous week.

In the most recent weekly update, just 66 deaths had Covid listed as their primary cause, compared to 292 for flu and pneumonia.

And the figures for flu and pneumonia are still much lower than one would expect at this time of year.

The five-year average for deaths involving flu and pneumonia in the same week is 1,704.

Kevin McConway, the emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University said: “The excellent news in this bulletin is that the number of deaths involving Covid-19 actually fell again,” the Telegraph reports.

“The numbers are down in most age groups and most regions, comparing the latest week with either the previous week or the week before that.

“Deaths involving Covid-19 made up just eight out of every thousand total deaths in the most recent week.

“It’s not good news that the number of infections is increasing, even though it is a little encouraging that the increase in cases hasn’t yet led to any substantial increase in deaths involving Covid and, judging by these ONS figures, if anything there’s a decrease in deaths.”

It comes as the number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 in the UK rose to its highest level for nearly two months. 

A total of 1,378 patients were in hospital on June 20, according to the latest Government figures. 

This is up 21 per cent from the previous week, and is the highest since April 29. 

It is also up 58 per cent from the 870 patients recorded on May 27, which was the lowest number since the second wave of the virus. 

The figures are still well below those recorded at the peak of the second wave, however. 

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday morning – before the latest figures on hospital patients and cases were announced – Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the data was “looking encouraging” for July 19, when coronavirus restrictions are expected to be further eased in England. 

“We will watch vigilantly and we will look at the data, in particular at the start of next week,” he added. 

Today, 11,625 new Covid cases were recorded on the Government’s coronavirus dashboard, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 4,651,988 in Britain.

It is the highest daily rise since February 19 when 12,027 new cases were reported.

Daily Covid deaths rose by 27 in the UK today – bringing the total number of Covid victims to 128,008.