Covid was behind just one in 16 deaths in England and Wales in the two weeks after Omicron first hit Britain as Covid fatalities hit a two-month low, official figures revealed today.
The Office for National Statistics has data that shows only 764 deaths from nearly 12,000 in these two countries were due to the virus during the seven-day period ending December 10.
Since 713 deaths from Covid were reported in the week ending October 15, the weekly Covid fatality rate is at its lowest level in 2 months.
These deaths — which include any fatality where the virus was mentioned on the certificate — were recorded in the two weeks after the first Omicron infections were identified in the UK.
Because it can take up to three to four weeks before an infected individual dies from the virus, covid deaths is the most lagging indicator for trends in infection rates.
The extent of the Omicron surge remains unknown, as are its consequences for vaccines and other measures to protect against it.
These important unknowns and growing cases make festive plans uncertain, despite Prime Minister not imposing any additional Covid curbs until Christmas.
The Prime Minister admitted the decision is ‘finely balanced’ — with speculation that the Government could act with a ‘circuit breaker’ before New Year if the crucial evidence shows the situation deteriorating quickly. But it now looks too late to bring in any legal restrictions before December 25, with Mr Johnson having vowed to give restive MPs a say in advance.
Yesterday, the UK saw a 68% increase in daily Covid cases, although it has been at 90,000 the past four days despite growing concerns.
Between December 19 and 19, 129 Omicron-positive patients were admitted to hospital, while fourteen deaths were recorded.
Before Omicron emerged, No10’s scientists forecasted that cases could drop to just 5,000 per day but now estimate 1million Britons could be catching Omicron every day by the end of the year.
Scientists in the UK are waiting to receive data about the severity of the variant, the number of hospitalisations that it may cause, and the effectiveness and safety of vaccines and boosters. Experts believe that this data will be available in the next few days. They need to see at least 250 Omicron hospitals to assess the effect of the strain.
Projections from SAGE that the Omicron surge could lead to 10,000 hospitalisations and 6,000 deaths per day this winter were this week branded as ‘fiction’.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics, only 764 deaths out of almost 12,000 in England or Wales due to the virus were reported in the seven-day period ending December 10. The weekly number is the lowest in two months. 764 of the nearly 12,000 deaths in England and Wales were linked to the virus in the seven days up to December 10. This graph displays the non-Covid death (pink), Covid mortalities (red), and the 5-year average (blue).
The ONS data shows November’s Covid death rates. Covid was fatal in England for 69 deaths per 100,000 people, and it happened in Wales where the number was 106/100,000. For comparison: In England, 51% of the population died due to Covid in October and Wales, 98 percent in November.
According to the ONS, there were 51 524 deaths in England and Wales last November, an increase of 15.6 percentage (6,511 death) over the average five-year period. Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease were the main causes of death in both countries, with Covid being the third-most common cause for death for the fourth straight month.
The ONS has weekly data that shows 11930 deaths in England and Wales during the week ending December 10.
The figure is 271 more than the fatalities recorded one week earlier and is 11.5 per cent above the five-year average — which is used by the statisticians to determine how many deaths are expected at this time of year.
Most of the fatalities (11 162) occurred in England. There, the death rate was 11.7 percent higher than the 5-year average. The remainder of the deaths (747) were found in Wales, which had a 10 per cent increase than was expected.
There were 764 (6.4%) death certificates from the countries that mentioned Covid. That’s less than one week before 792 (7.8%) had been linked to the virus.
Although not all these deaths were directly due to Covid, the virus was still mentioned in the death certificates.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths involving the coronavirus — where the doctor certifying the fatality determined Covid was a contributing factor — dropped from 729 in the week to December 3 to 708 in the seven days up to December 10.
The ONS said there has been 131,277 deaths above the five-year average in England and Wales since the pandemic began, suggesting that these excess deaths would not have occurred if it wasn’t for the Covid crisis.
Overall, 13,612 deaths were recorded across the UK’s four nations in the week to December 10 — 12 per cent higher than the five-year average — and 887 involved Covid.
Separate monthly data from ONS show that there were 51 524 deaths in England and Wales in November. This is 15.6 percent (6,511 more deaths) higher than the 5-year average.
Alzheimer’s disease and heart disease were the most prevalent causes of death in the two countries, while Covid was third for the fourth consecutive month.
Covid caused 3,185 deaths (6.6%) in England. This is an increase over October’s 5.6% of deaths due to the virus.
From 9.5 to 1 percent in October, the virus caused 302 deaths in Wales.
It meant that 69 people died from Covid in England per 100,000, and 106 deaths in Wales.
Yorkshrie, Humber, and London had the highest levels of viral death, each with 92 cases per 100,000.
ONS analyses of death certificates revealed that diabetes is still the leading pre-existing condition in people who have died from Covid. Nearly 25% (23%) of those virus fatalities had it.
The second-most common underlying condition was chronic lower respiratory disease, which is linked to one fifth of all Covid deaths.
Only 17.4 percent of deaths were caused by preexisting conditions.
25% of all deaths are caused by people under 64 years old (26%) while 35% were due to those over 65.
This is after Britain’s Covid cases remained flat yesterday, and they have not moved for four days, despite the fact that Government scientists claim that Omicron infections are increasing by a third every 48 hours.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, there were 91.743 positive blood tests Monday. That’s up 2/3 from Sunday, and only 10% less than Sunday. They also reached 90,000. This was their third consecutive day.
Fears arose that Britain might be affected by an epidemic of infections after the number of cases doubled, going from 48,000 Sunday to 93,000 Friday.
They have not moved despite the fact that Government modeling predicts there will be one million Omicron infections daily by the end the year.
Record 1.5million Britons currently test positive for the virus each day, which indicates that the problem is not due to a shortage of testing resources.
The flatlining statistgics come as a similar trend emerges in Britain’s Omicron epicentre London, where just 22,750 cases were recorded yesterday.
While that marks a 100 per cent increase in a week, yesterday’s cases are up only marginally on yesterday’s 21,594 and down on the peak of 26,000 at the weekend. The capital is seeing a record number of tests every day, with 250,000 being performed each.
Other encouraging news was that hospitalisations were flat across the country with 919 being recorded on December 14. This is barely an increase on 926 seven days ago. Yesterday, 14 more people died from the virus as health officials announced another 14. This is an increase of 15% in one week.
The Omicron death count in Britain rose to 12, Dominic Raab (Deputy Prime Minister) announced yesterday. Meanwhile, hospital admissions for variants have increased to 104. Experts have warned the hospital number is likely an underestimate due to the time it takes to analyse positive tests for variants.