Deaths from Covid-19 fell for the fifth week in a row at the start of March as the virus continues to retreat across the Liverpool City Region.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday show 49 people died of Covid-19 in the city region during the week up to March 5.
This was the lowest weekly figure recorded in the region since Christmas and a further fall from the 78 deaths seen in the previous week.
It is also a big reduction from the peak of third wave deaths at the end of January when more than 300 people died in a single week.
However, not every borough saw its weekly death toll fall during the week. Sefton recorded 12 deaths, the same number as the previous week, while Liverpool and Wirral saw their weekly death tolls fall by just one.
The ONS figures record all deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, meaning it was either the primary cause of death or a contributing factor.
The death toll for each borough in the week up to March 5 is given below, along with the total number of Covid deaths since the pandemic began.
Halton - 2
Knowsley - 5
Liverpool - 16
St Helens - 7
Sefton - 12
Wirral - 7
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As cases of Covid-19 continue to fall across the city region and the vaccine provides extra protection against the virus, deaths should also keep falling.
But since the first recorded Covid deaths in March last year, a total of 4,457 people have died of the virus in the city region. A third of those, 1,490 deaths, have come in 2021.
Each borough’s total death toll for the pandemic is given below.
Halton - 292
Knowsley - 423
Liverpool - 1,385
St Helens - 522
Sefton - 869
Wirral - 966
