Coronavirus Caused 1% Of All Deaths In England And Wales Week Ending March 20
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Coronavirus accounted for 1% of all deaths in England and Wales in the week ending March 20, figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal – 103 cases in total.
The new stats include people dying outside of hospitals whose death certificates mentioned Covid-19, including in combination with other health conditions.
By contrast, official numbers from the Department for Health and Social Care have so far only included deaths inside hospitals, though this is changing from Tuesday.
As a result, up to March 20, the ONS counted 24% more deaths involving Covid-19 than the DHSC: 210 compared with 170.
Separate figures from the ONS, including only deaths that were actually registered before March 20 (as opposed to occurring before March 20 but being registered later) show that for the 108 cases where Covid-19 was mentioned on a death certificate, 45 (or 42%) were people aged 85 and over, while 34 (31%) were people aged 75 to 84.
A total of 21 deaths (19%) were people aged 65 to 74, seven (6%) were people aged 45 to 64 and one death was aged 15 to 44 years.
The figures come after it was revealed there has been almost a 50% rise in just a few days in the number of people being treated for coronavirus in England’s hospitals.
Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said on Friday that more than 6,200 patients were in hospital with Covid-19.
But on Monday, he said this figure had jumped to more than 9,000.
