Coronavirus UK: 126 new fatalities in preliminary death toll

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UK records 126 more Covid-19 deaths as average number of fatalities plummets by a QUARTER in a week and Northern Ireland registers no victims for the SIXTH day in a row

  • Department of Health chiefs have yet to confirm the final daily death figure, which is often much higher
  • The early count is calculated by adding up the individual updates declared by each of the home nations
  • NHS England today posted 42 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus deaths in hospitals across the country
  • Four Covid-19 fatalities were recorded in all settings in Wales, one in Scotland and none in Northern Ireland

By Stephen Matthews Health Editor For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

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Britain today recorded 126 more Covid-19 deaths as the outbreak continues to fizzle out with the average number of fatalities having plummeted by a quarter in the space of a week.

Government figures show the rolling average of deaths now stands at 87 — 26 per cent lower than the figure of 118 registered last Wednesday, which was marginally higher than the same day the week before. 

For comparison, 155 coronavirus deaths were recorded in all settings yesterday and 176 were registered across the UK last Wednesday. 

Northern Ireland today declared no more fatalities for the sixth day in a row while the South West of England also posted zero victims, proving the darkest days of Britain’s first wave are definitely over. 

Department of Health officials say the laboratory-confirmed death toll now stands at 44,517 — but separate grim statistics show the actual death toll passed the grisly 50,000 mark at the start of June.   

Other promising figures showed 630 more cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed, meaning the daily average has now dropped to 546 — 39 per cent lower than it was last Wednesday.

It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak today unveiled free £10 ‘eat-out’ vouchers and slashed VAT to 5 per cent for the hospitality industry in a £30billion package to save jobs. 

The package to bail out the stricken UK economy included a £1,000 bonus for every employee not fired when the furlough scheme ends and a stamp duty threshold cut to £500,000. 

In other coronavirus developments Britain today:

  • The Hillingdon Hospital in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s constituency closed to emergency admissions because of an outbreak of coronavirus with up to 70 staff currently self-isolating;
  • World Health Organization scientists have now admitted there is ‘evidence emerging’ that the coronavirus can be spread through the air as fears of airborne transmission continue to mount;
  • Number 10’s scientific advisory panel SAGE will see its role in the coronavirus crisis downgraded with the nation’s new Joint Biosecurity Centre tasked with doing more of the heavy lifting, it was claimed.

RISHI SUNAK’S ‘MINI-BUDGET’ PACKAGE AT A GLANCE 

  • Stamp duty threshold will increase from £125,000 to between £300,000 and £500,000 for six months to boost housing market;
  • A radical plan to pay the wages of up to 300,000 young people on Universal Credit if businesses agree to take them on for at least six months;
  • A £2billion scheme to subsidise home insulation and other environmental upgrades that ministers hope will support more than 100,000 jobs;
  • A temporary cut in VAT which is expected to be focused on struggling sectors like hospitality;
  • Schools, hospitals and other public buildings are to get £1billion to make them greener and more energy efficient;
  • Some £50million to fund retrofitting of social housing with insulation, double glazing and heat pumps;
  • Nature conservation schemes given £40million to plant trees, clean up rivers and create new green spaces.

Department of Health figures released yesterday showed 141,000 tests were carried out or posted the day before. The number includes antibody tests for frontline NHS and care workers.

But bosses again refused to say how many people were tested, meaning the exact number of Brits who have been swabbed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a mystery for a month — since May 22.

Health chiefs also reported 581 more cases of Covid-19. Government statistics show the official size of the UK’s  outbreak now stands at 286,349 cases. 

But the actual size of the outbreak, which began to spiral out of control in March, is estimated to be in the millions, based on antibody testing data.

The daily death data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours — it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities.

The data does not always match updates provided by the home nations. Department of Health officials work off a different time cut-off, meaning daily updates from Scotland as well as Northern Ireland are always out of sync.

And the count announced by NHS England every afternoon — which only takes into account deaths in hospitals — does not match up with the DH figures because they work off a different recording system.

For instance, some deaths announced by NHS England bosses will have already been counted by the Department of Health, which records fatalities ‘as soon as they are available’.

NHS England today posted 42 lab-confirmed deaths in hospitals across the country, including a 22-year-old who had an underlying health condition. 

Four Covid-19 fatalities were recorded in all settings in Wales, one in Scotland and none in Northern Ireland for the sixth day in a row. 

More than 1,000 infected Brits died each day during the darkest days of the crisis in mid-April but the number of victims had been dropping by around 20 to 30 per cent week-on-week since the start of May. 

HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE REALLY DIED OF THE CORONAVIRUS?

Department of Health: 44,391

Department of Health’s latest death count for all settings stands at 44,391.

The daily data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours — it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities. 

It also only takes into account patients who tested positive for the virus, as opposed to deaths suspected to be down to the coronavirus.  

National statistical bodies: 55,216

Data compiled by the statistical bodies of each of the home nations show 55,216 people died of either confirmed or suspected Covid-19 across the UK by the end of May.

The Office for National Statistics yesterday confirmed that 50,219 people in England and Wales died with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 by June 19.

The number of coronavirus deaths was 824 by the same day in Northern Ireland, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

National Records Scotland — which collects statistics north of the border — said 4,173 people had died across the country by June 22.

Their tallies are always 10 days behind the Department of Health (DH) because they wait until as many fatalities as possible for each date have been counted, to avoid having to revise their statistics.

Excess deaths: 65,249

The total number of excess deaths has now passed 65,000. 

Excess deaths are considered to be an accurate measure of the number of people killed by the pandemic because they include a broader spectrum of victims.

As well as including people who may have died with Covid-19 without ever being tested, the data also shows how many more people died because their medical treatment was postponed, for example, or who didn’t or couldn’t get to hospital when they were seriously ill.

Data from England and Wales shows there has been an extra 59,324 deaths between March 15 and June 12, as well as 4,924 in Scotland between March 10 and June 22 and 1,001 in Northern Ireland between March 28 and June 26.