Covid became the 9th leading cause of death in England last month with virus behind one in 40 deaths

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Covid was the ninth leading cause of death in England in July, official figures revealed today.

The virus accounted for nearly one in 40 deaths registered in the country last month (2.4 per cent), according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Covid jumped from England’s 26th to ninth biggest killer in the space of one month, when the virus was behind just 0.9 per cent of deaths – fewer than one in 100.

But the proportion of deaths caused by the virus still low. During the peak of the second wave in January, Covid accounted for 37.4 per cent of all deaths in England.

In July, Covid was behind 969 of the 40,467 fatalities recorded. This equates to an average of 31 deaths per day throughout July.

But this month, Covid deaths have reached 100 a day across the UK due to a sustained uptick in cases and fatalities, linked with the more infectious Indian Delta variant and easing restrictions. 

Dementia and Alzheimer’s, heart disease and lung cancer continue to be the top three causes of deaths in England, collectively responsible for more than a quarter of deaths in July. 

In addition to the 969 deaths in England last month where Covid was the underlying cause, a further 192 people died with Covid, according to the ONS.

This means the virus was mentioned on a total of 1,161 death certificates in the country last month and was the underlying cause in 88.9 per cent of those fatalities.

The ONS calculated that 20.5 deaths per 100,000 people were due to the virus in July. One month earlier, Covid caused just 7.5 fatalities per 100,000 individuals.

The North of England continued to be the region with the highest Covid deaths rates in July, recording 50.1 per 100,000 people – nearly double the national average. 

Overall, the number of fatalities recorded in England in July was 7.6 per cent higher than the five year average, with 2,864 more deaths recorded compared to the same month in 2015 to 2019.

Meanwhile, ONS figures for Wales reveal Covid was the 22nd leading cause of death last month, accounting for 33 of the 2,738 deaths registered. 

This equated to 1.2 per cent of all deaths, a jump from the 0.1 per cent of fatalities in the country were due to the virus in June.

ONS calculates show 11.6 deaths per 100,000 people were caused by Covid in July. One month earlier, deaths from the virus were so low in the country that this rate couldn’t be calculated.

But fatalities due to the country’s top killers are significantly higher that deaths due to Covid.

In July, dementia and Alzheimer’s killed 4,404 people in England, equating to 142 deaths a day and 10.9 per cent of all fatalities last month.

There was also 4,062 deaths due to heart disease (10 per cent), 2,196 caused by lung cancer (5.4 per cent) and 2,148 from brain disease (5.3 per cent).

And lung disease (2,024), colon cancer (1,216) and influenza and pneumonia (1,141) were also behind more deaths than Covid.

The ONS said deaths from influenza and pneumonia were 25.5 per cent lower in England and 21.8 per cent lower in Wales in July compared to the five year average.

It expects this is due to Covid restrictions –  such as social distancing – having the knock on effect of reducing the spread of these illnesses.

But Covid is still the leading cause of death this year, accounting fro 15.4 per cent of all deaths in England and 12.3 per cent of all fatalities in Wales.

So far this year, the virus has killed 49,831 people in England and 2,560 individuals in Wales.

Of those who died from Covid between April and June, 23 per cent had diabetes.

And 8.9 per cent of fatalities had dementia and Alzheimer’s.

There was a decrease in the number of over-65s who died from the virus in the second quarter of the year. Some 87 per cent of all Covid deaths between January and March were in this age group. But just 73.7 per cent of people who died from the virus between March and June were aged 65 or over.

And there was an increase in the number of younger people who died from the virus, with just 13 per cent of deaths occurring in the over-64s at the beginning of the year to 26.3 per cent by the second quarter.

The five year average provides an indicator of the number of deaths expected each month. The ONS excluded 2020 from the five year average, because of the pandemic’s impact on last year’s figures.

It comes as Wales and Northern Ireland are recording their highest rates of new cases of Covid since January, as the third wave of the coronavirus continues to pick up pace across the country, new figures show.

Fermanagh & Omagh in the south-west of Northern Ireland has the highest rate of any local authority in the UK, with a total of 1,003.9 cases per 100,000 people recorded in the seven days to August 18.

This is the first time that any local authority in Northern Ireland has recorded rates over 1,000 since comparable records began in summer 2020, when mass testing was first introduced.

The figures show how the third wave of coronavirus, which began in the UK at the end of May of this year, is once again on the rise after a period last month when it appeared cases may have peaked.

Around two-thirds (67%) of all local authority areas across the UK are currently recording an increase in case rates, including every area in Wales, all but one area in Northern Ireland (Mid Ulster) and all areas on mainland Scotland, according to analysis by the PA news agency.

Northern Ireland’s rate of new cases currently stands at 579.5 per 100,000 people, the highest since January 8. while Wales is now at 297.4 per 100,000, the highest since January 16.

The picture is slightly different for the other two nations.

In Scotland rates are also rising sharply, but are currently below the levels reached earlier in the third wave at the start of July.

Scotland recorded 289.2 cases per 100,000 people in the week to August 18, up week-on-week from 167.2, though still below the recent peak of 425.0 on July 3.

England is the only one of the four nations where rates are currently rising slowly rather than sharply, with 323.8 cases per 100,000 in the week to August 18 – up from 306.9 a week earlier.

England is also still some way from hitting the sort of levels seen last month, when case rates peaked at 543.4 on July 19.

All four nations have now experienced a similarly “shaped” third wave.

Cases began to rise from the end of May and spiked in July, although on different dates for each nation; this was followed by a partial fall in cases and a levelling off; then came a renewed increase in cases in August, which was sharp enough in Wales and Northern Ireland to overtake the spike in July.

Unlike the first and second waves of coronavirus cases, however, the third wave has yet to cause a similarly sharp rise in the number of hospital cases and deaths.

A total of 6,441 patients with Covid-19 were in hospital in the UK as of August 19.

This is up 9% on the previous week and is the highest number for five months.

But it is a long way below the 39,254 patients who were in hospital at the peak of the second wave on January 18 – the highest for any day since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile the average number of UK deaths reported each day of people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 currently stands at 98.

This compares with a peak of 1,248 on January 23.

The relatively low levels of hospital patients and deaths during the third wave so far reflects the impact of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, which has now seen nearly 77% of all people in the UK aged 16 and over fully vaccinated.

The vaccine rollout in England is estimated to have directly averted between 91,700 and 98,700 deaths, together with more than 82,100 hospital admissions, according to the latest figures from Public Health England.

Vaccination rates vary between the four nations, particularly among young people, however.

Northern Ireland is estimated to have given a first jab to only 68% of 18 to 29-year-olds, compared with 71% in England, 73% in Scotland and 76% in Wales.

Northern Ireland has just held a “Big Jab Weekend” in an attempt to encourage people to come forward for their first dose, with health officials saying at least 8,000 vaccinations were delivered over the past two days.