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Weekly registered Covid deaths pass 1,000 for first time in eight months – ONS

By Jemma Crew, PA Social Affairs Correspondent and Ian Jones, PA

The number of weekly registered deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales has passed a thousand for the first time in eight months, figures show.

There were 1,020 deaths registered in the week ending November 12 where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Covid-19 accounted for around one in 12 of all deaths registered over the seven-day period.

The number is up 3% from the previous week, when 995 deaths were registered.

And it is the first time the weekly total has passed a thousand since the week ending March 12, during the 2021 national lockdown.

People aged 80 and over accounted for 44.6% of the deaths registered in the week to November 12 – the lowest proportion for this age group since the week to August 27, according to analysis by the PA news agency.

The figure is down from 46.2% in the previous week and 50.4% two weeks earlier.

The drop might reflect the impact of booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine, which began to be rolled out in late September to all over-50s who were at least six months on from their second dose.

People aged 80 and over would have been one of the first groups eligible for a booster, as they would have received their second dose early in the year.

By contrast, 60 to 79-year-olds accounted for 44.3% of deaths registered in the week to November 12 – the highest percentage for this age group since the week to May 28.

In the latest week, there were 12,050 deaths from all causes registered in England and Wales.

This is up 500 from the previous week and 16.6% higher than the average number of deaths for this time measured over five years.

Registered deaths involving Covid-19 increased in six of the nine English regions and fell in Wales.

Some 101 care home resident deaths involving Covid-19 were registered, down from 111 in the previous week.

In total, 44,107 care home residents in England and Wales have had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began.

The ONS figures cover deaths of care home residents in all settings, not just in care homes.

A total of 169,767 deaths have occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.

The figures also show more than 77,000 extra deaths – or “excess deaths” – have taken place in private homes in England and Wales since the pandemic began.

A total of 77,379 excess deaths were registered between March 7 2020 and November 12 2021.

Of this number, only 8,998 – 12% – were deaths involving Covid-19.