Covid weekly deaths in England and Wales fall for third week in a row
Figures suggest Covid deaths are on downwards trend
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Your support makes all the difference.The number of deaths involving coronavirus registered each week in England and Wales has fallen for the third week in a row.
A total of 1,066 deaths registered in the week ending 11 February mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is down 14 per cent on the previous seven days and is also the lowest number since 922 deaths were registered in the week to 7 January.
The figures suggest Covid-19 deaths are now on a downwards trend, following the rise in December and early January that was driven by the Omicron variant of the virus.
Numbers are still well below the level seen at the peak of the second wave of the pandemic a year ago, however.
Some 8,433 deaths involving Covid-19 were registered in England and Wales in the week to 29 January 2021.
This was nearly six times the 1,484 registered in the peak week of the current wave (the seven days to 21 January 2022).
The relatively low number of deaths seen during the current wave reflects the success of the vaccination programme, in particular the rollout of booster doses at the end of last year.
Vaccine effectiveness against mortality with the Omicron variant for people aged 50 and over is estimated to be 95 per cent at two or more weeks after a booster jab, compared with around 60 per cent at 25-plus weeks after a second dose, according to the UK Health Security Agency.
Overall, a total of 184,592 deaths have now occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.
The highest number on a single day was 1,486 on 19 January 2021.
During the first wave of the virus, the daily toll peaked at 1,461 on 8 April 2020.
Around nine in 10 deaths with Covid-19 on the death certificate since the start of the pandemic have coronavirus as the primary cause of death, with a minority listing the virus as a contributory factor.