Coronavirus has proved to be three times more deadly than pneumonia and flu combined, according to new figures.
Between January and August this year there were 48,168 deaths due to Covid-19, 13,619 due to pneumonia and 394 deaths due to influenza in England and Wales, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Out of all deaths during this period, Covid-19 accounted for 12.4%, whereas 0.1% were due to flu and 3.5% caused by pneumonia.
Sarah Caul, head of mortality analysis at the ONS, said: "Since 1959, which is when ONS monthly death records began, the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia in the first eight months of every year have been lower than the number of Covid-19 deaths seen, so far, in 2020."
In care homes, which have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, the proportion of deaths due to COVID-19 was almost double those caused by flu and pneumonia - reports Sky News.
The mortality rate for COVID-19 is also "significantly higher" than flu and pneumonia rates for both this year and the five-year average.
At the beginning of the pandemic, many said that coronavirus was no more dangerous than flu, but the ONS figures show that this is not the case.
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The data focuses on cases where people died due to these conditions, rather than deaths where the conditions were either the underlying cause or mentioned as a contributing factor.
