Security guards, bus drivers and care workers are among those with the highest death rates from coronavirus.
It is particularly hitting lower-paid workers, rather than white-collar staff more likely to work from home, figures show.
The Office for National Statistics said that among men, those working in the lowest skilled occupations had the highest rate of death involving Covid-19, with 21.4 deaths per 100,000 males.
Among the working age population, those aged 20 to 64 years, there was a total of 2,494 deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales registered up to, and including, April 20 of this year.
Nearly two-thirds of these were men (1,612 deaths) with the remaining deaths being women (882 deaths).
The data was published as many companies are urgently trying to work out how, or if, they can reopen offices, factories and other workplaces in coming days and weeks.
Unions are warning that safety measures must be in place before employees are asked to return.
Jury trials in England and Wales are to resume from next week, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett, has announced.
