Ten per cent of patients who have died from coronavirus in England and Wales had no underlying conditions, figures today revealed.
Data compiled by the Office for National Statistics broke down the details of all the COVID-19 victims who succumbed to the illness in March.
As well as showing that 90 per cent of the victims were at risk because they had a medical issue, the report showed:
England’s death rate is 50 per cent higher than Wales’, with 68.5 deaths for every 100,000 people – compared to 44.5 in Wales;
Coronavirus was the third most common cause of death during March and was behind 7 per cent of all fatalities, behind only dementia and heart disease;
Death rates are twice as high in men compared to women, with 97.5 deaths among every 100,000 men against 46.5 for women;
Heart disease was the most common pre-existing condition among the victims, with 14 per cent of victims having the condition;
The death rate in March was lower than the five-year average – despite the last week of March being the deadliest since 2005.
The ONS looked into the deaths that occurred in March in England and Wales, and found 3,912 involved COVID-19.
It comes after a separate ONS report laid bare the true scale of Britain’s devastating coronavirus crisis, suggesting there are potentially thousands of hidden victims.
Figures showed the true number of people who have died of COVID-19 could be 52 per cent higher than official figures.
Only 3,939 hospital deaths were recorded up to April 3 by the Department of Health, which provides a daily update on the UK’s situation.
But the ONS said the true figure was 5,979, when hospital deaths were back-dated and fatalities elsewhere in the community were recorded.
The ONS’ death toll was also 15 per cent higher than the daily number given by NHS England, which collates hospital deaths on the day they occurred.
Official data showed the week ending April 3 was the deadliest since records began in 2005, with 16,387 fatalities recorded. A graph shows how the week compares to others since the start of 2020
Coronavirus is now linked to more than one in five deaths per week, according to the data for the last week of March. In London, the virus was mentioned on the death certificates of almost half of fatalities
ONS data showed deaths in care homes made up 10 per cent of Britain’s fatality toll
More men are dying of coronavirus in every age bracket in England and Wales, official figures collated by the ONS show
It comes after official figures yesterday painted an even worse picture in Scotland, where a quarter of all coronavirus deaths in Scotland have been in care homes.
Data from the National Records of Scotland showed 962 people diagnosed with, or suspected of having, COVID-19 had died up to April 12.
Of those, 237 (24.6 per cent) were in care homes, 586 in hospitals, 128 in homes and one in an undisclosed location.
The figure was five times higher than the 5 per cent number given by the Office for National Statistics, which collates data in England and Wales.
Government experts found 217 of 3,700 deaths had been recorded in care homes across the two nations registered up until April 3.
New figures by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) revealed that 962 people who were diagnosed with, or suspected of having, COVID-19 had died
Of those, 237 (24.6 per cent) were in care homes, 586 in hospitals, 128 in homes and one in an undisclosed location
The weekly NRS figures account for all deaths registered in Scotland when COVID-19 was mentioned in the death certificate. They differ from the Scottish Government’s tally of 566, which only includes cases where a laboratory has confirmed a positive diagnosis