More people now dying of flu and pneumonia than Covid

More people are dying of flu and pneumonia than coronavirus for the first time since the second wave, new data has revealed.

There were 260 deaths in England and Wales registered in the week ending 23 April where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate — a third lower than the previous week and the lowest number since the week ending 25 September, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Covid-19 was listed as the underlying cause of death of 176 (67.7 per cent) of the victims – meaning that for nearly one third of people included in the recent coronavirus death figures, Covid was not an underlying cause of death but was merely mentioned on the death certificate. 

In comparison, flu and pneumonia were the underlying cause for 278 deaths in the same seven-day period and were mentioned on 1,203 certificates – showing that flu is now causing more deaths than coronavirus. The week ending 2 October was the last time that flu deaths were higher than those caused by Covid.

The figures show that coronavirus deaths in England and Wales now make up just 2.6 per cent of all deaths – the lowest since September. At the height of the second wave earlier this year, some 45.7 per cent of all deaths involved the virus.

The ONS data also offers fresh evidence of the combined impact of the lockdown restrictions and the vaccine rollout in driving down levels of infections and deaths.

Among people aged 70 and over, deaths involving Covid-19 have fallen by 98 per cent since the second-wave peak.

A total of 166 Covid-19 deaths in the 70-and-over age group occurred in England and Wales in the week ending April 16, down from 7,414 deaths in the week ending January 22.

Deaths for those aged 65-69 fell 96 per cent in the same period, with drops of 95 per cent for those aged 60-64 and 96 per cent for those aged both 55-59 and 50-54.