According to official data, Covid was the third leading cause death in England last Month, beating only dementia and heart disease.
Office for National Statistic (ONS) figures revealed coronavirus was behind 2,955 deaths in England in September — nearly 100 per day.
The virus was responsible for 6.6% of all deaths during the month. This is higher than the previous month (5.3%), when it was also the third leading cause of death.
Only dementia (4.976 deaths) & heart disease (4.424) were more fatalities in September.
Overall, 44,474 people died in the country — 7,215 deaths (17.4 per cent) more than the five-year-average for the month.
It comes as ministers face increasing concerns about slowing booster vaccine roll-outs and the impending fourth wave that will force them to return to face masks and work remotely.
Boris Johnson appealed for more Britons to help him get boosters to ‘fortify people’s defenses against the virus.
Official data today revealed that Covid was the third leading cause to death in England, behind only dementia and heart disease.
Only dementia (4.976 deaths) or heart disease (4.424) were more fatalities in September. Graph: The age-standardised death rate per 100,000 for different causes in September.
Between August and September, the mortality rate from Covid increased. The graph below shows the Covid death rate for England (dark-blue bar) as well as Wales (light-blue bar).
The age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR), for deaths caused by Covid in England (64.4 deaths for every 100,000) has increased for the third consecutive month, taking into account population size and age structure.
England’s 10 leading causes of death were two significantly lower than the average five-year rate (2015 to 2019), and four of the top 10 causes had no significant differences to the five year average.
The ONS stated that: “As you can see, the mortality rate of deaths due to an underlying disease such as influenza or pneumonia was lower than the five-year average for September (23.9%).”
“This is likely in part because people continue to follow coronavirus guidance such as social distancing to reduce the spread of infections such flu.
Including all deaths involving Covid takes the total number of fatalities related to the virus up to 3,432 in England during the month, the ONS said.
In Wales, 8.5 per cent of the 2,964 deaths registered in September 2021 were due to COVID-19 (253 deaths), a larger proportion than in August 2021 (2.7 per cent).
Since March 2020, 88.8 percent of deaths in England from Covid have been attributed to the virus.
It comes after Britain’s daily Covid cases breached 50,000 for the first time in three months yesterday.
Another 52,009 infections were reported by Department of Health officials, a jump of 15% over a week ago and the highest since July 17, when the summer spike was at its peak. The daily average is now at peak second wave levels.
The latest hospitalisations rose by a quarter in seven days following the admission of 969 Covid-infected individuals to wards. However deaths (115%) have dropped compared with last Thursday.
Separate figures showed that infections are increasing in all age groups and in four-fifths in England. A more transmissible strain, known as Delta, is also suspected. AY.4.2 has now spread to all but two dozen locations in the country.
And the country’s largest symptom-tracking surveillance study suggested daily cases have already hit 80,000, feared to be the threshold at which the epidemic becomes ‘unstable’. Sajid Javid the Health Secretary has maintained that 100,000 cases can be handled per day.