England and Wales recorded their lowest weekly coronavirus death toll since the lockdown went into effect in March, new figures show.
In the week up to August 7, only 152 fatalities mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, the lowest seven-day total since the week ending March 20 (103 deaths) - four days before the shutdown began, the Office for National Statistics said.
It is the lowest weekly total for 20 weeks and it is down 21.2% compared with the previous week, when there were 193 deaths involving coronavirus, the ONS added.
The number of coronavirus fatalities decreased or remained the same in every region in England except the North West, as new figures also showed that the UK's true toll has passed 57,000 - almost 16,000 higher than the Government's official toll, which was lowered following a review last week.
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Week-on-week deaths in Wales more than doubled, however, with 24 in the seven days up to August 7 compared with 10 in the previous week.
In England, the North West had the highest coronavirus death toll (33), up one from the previous seven days, followed by the South East (24) and the East Midlands and Yorkshire & Humber (16 each).
Of all deaths involving Covid-19 registered up to that date, 63.4% occurred in hospital with the remainder mainly occurring in care homes (29.6%), private homes (4.7%) and hospices (1.4%), the ONS said in its latest update on Tuesday.
Other highlights from the report:
- Covid-19 deaths remained higher in older age groups, with those aged 90 and over accounting for the highest number of fatalities.
- For most age groups, there have been more male victims (55%) than female.
- In the year to date, there were more deaths in females aged 85 and over (11,864) than males in the same age group (10,052), which could be due to the fact that the 85-plus female population is significant larger.
- In the week ending August 7, England and Wales accounted for 152 of the UK's 162 deaths involving coronavirus, as excess deaths continued to drop.
- A total of 8,945 deaths were registered in England and Wales in the week ending August 7, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) - 157 fewer than the five-year average of 9,102.
- This is the eighth week in a row that deaths have been below the five-year average.
The number of deaths in private homes was above the average, while fatalities in care homes, hospitals and other communal establishments remained below the average, the ONS said.
Just over 57,000 deaths involving Covid-19 have now been registered in the UK.
Figures published on Tuesday by the ONS show that 51,935 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in England and Wales up to August 7, and had been registered by August 15.
Figures published last week by the National Records for Scotland showed that 4,213 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to August 9 while 859 deaths had occurred in Northern Ireland up to August 7 (and had been registered up to August 12) according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
Together, these figures mean that so far 57,007 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.
Six regions of England had deaths below the five-year average in the week ending August 7, the ONS said.
They were south-east England (0.2% below), the West Midlands (0.6% below), south-west England (4.4% below), Eastern England (4.5% below), London (4.5% below) and Yorkshire & the Humber (5.4% below).
In three regions the number of registered deaths was above the five-year average: north-west England (0.6% above), north-east England (0.8% above) and the East Midlands (4.9% above).
In Wales, the number of deaths registered in the week to August 7 was 1.4% below the five-year average.
The number of adults experiencing depression has risen during the coronavirus pandemic, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures have suggested.
ONS data showed that nearly one in 10 (9.7%) British adults suffered some sort of depression between July 2019 and March 2020.
But when the same group of 3,500 participants were assessed again in June, the figure had risen to 19.2% - nearly one in five.
A separate study has found the majority (84%) of people experiencing some sort of depression cited stress and anxiety affecting their wellbeing and 42% said their relationships had been affected.
Tim Vizard, from the ONS, said: "Nearly one in five adults were experiencing some form of depression during the pandemic, almost doubling from around one in 10 before.
"Adults who are young, female, unable to afford an unexpected expense or disabled were the most likely to experience some form of depression during the pandemic."
