Deaths Linked to Coronavirus in the U.K. Soar Past 32,000

(Bloomberg) --

Covid-19 is now suspected of playing a role in the death of more than 32,000 people in the U.K., government data show.

That's higher than the number of fatalities in Italy and Spain, the other European countries hit hardest by the virus, though deaths there are recorded on a confirmed case basis. The U.K. statistics include all mortalities where the virus was mentioned on the death certificate, regardless of whether it was confirmed or not.

The country has passed the peak of infection following a lockdown on March 23, though health officials caution that outbreaks will continue until a vaccine can be found.

Country	Mentions of Covid-19 on death certs (dates vary)
England	28,272
Wales	1,376
Scotland	2,272
Northern Ireland	370
Total	32,290

On Tuesday, England and Wales reported a decline in weekly deaths for the first time since the Covid-19 epidemic escalated in late March. There were 21,997 deaths registered in the week ending April 24, a slight fall from the previous week, the ONS said.

That's still more than double the average figure for the same week over the previous five years. Mortalities in care homes continued to rise.

Tracking the toll from the pandemic has been difficult to do in real time. Until last week, only deaths in hospitals were included in the daily official count given by the government. The data provided by the ONS lags the government's data substantially, making it hard to draw conclusions about the present state of the epidemic.

Other key numbers:

There was 8,237 mortalities in the week ending April 24 where the death certificate mentioned Covid-19, a small decline on the previous week
Deaths in care homes bucked the trend by rising 8.1% to 7,911 from the previous week, suggesting that the virus is still taking a toll against the most vulnerable.
The wider number of fatalities fell by 354 in the week ending April 24 from the previous week.
Since the week ending March 13, total excess deaths registered in England and Wales stand at 38,554 compared with the five-year average. Prior to that, deaths in 2020 had been running below the average due to a less virulent flu season.