New figures have shown the lowest number of deaths with Covid as the underlying cause since the week ending March 13 last year.
Nearly 40 per cent of recently registered Covid deaths in England and Wales were people who died primarily from another condition, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
Out of 107 Covid deaths registered in the week ending May 21, just 66 had the virus recorded as the underlying cause of death, 61.7 per cent.
In the rest of the cases, despite coronavirus being mentioned on the death certificate, it was not a major cause.
The ONS continues to include those who did not primarily die of Covid in its official statistics, despite the World Health Organisation (WHO) issuing guidance warning they should not be classified as Covid deaths in official figures.
Sir John Bell, a leading member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine team, urged the Government to stick to the unlocking roadmap and ensure that we “move on” rather than delay reopening due to new variants.
The University of Oxford professor of medicine told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “If we scamper down a rabbit hole every time we see a new variant, we’re going to spend a long time huddled away.”
He said that Covid “is here to stay probably forever”, and said that the Government should focus on managing “hospitalisations, serious disease and deaths” rather than cases.
Prof Kevin McConway, emeritus professor of applied statistics at The Open University, said: “On deaths involving Covid-19, the picture is very positive. In the most recent week, 107 deaths were registered in England and Wales that had Covid-19 on the death certificate, and 66 had Covid-19 classified as the underlying cause of death.
“Earlier in the pandemic, any sustained increase in new cases or hospital admissions would lead inevitably to increases in deaths a few weeks later.
“That process won’t occur in the same way now, because of the effect of vaccination on reducing serious illness, though it’s not yet entirely clear what the new pattern might be or how new variants might play a role.”
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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