England and Wales recorded their second deadliest week of the pandemic in mid-January after coronavirus infections spiralled over the run-up to Christmas.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows Covid-19 was mentioned on 8,422 death certificates in the seven-day spell to January 22, the most recent data. It was only higher at the peak of the first wave in the week to April 17, when the virus was included on 8,758 death certificates.
Covid-19 deaths in care homes also rose to their highest levels since May after 1,817 were registered, which was above every week until the period ending May 1 when 2,423 were recorded.
There were 1,200 more deaths involving the virus in the penultimate week of January compared to the seven days before, and it accounted for as much as 45 per cent of the 18,676 fatalities registered.
The spike during the first wave was driven by outbreaks in care homes, which were triggered after hundreds of patients potentially infected with Covid-19 were discharged from hospitals to free up beds. Homes have suffered almost a third of all deaths during the pandemic.
The death figures published by the ONS are still rising because they are recording deaths from last month, after statisticians go through each fatality with a fine-tooth-comb to identify all those involving the virus.
But the Department of Health’s daily updates show the number of deaths due to the virus are now starting to fall in line with plummeting infections, suggesting next week the ONS numbers will also show a drop.
There is a delay of about three weeks between someone getting infected with the virus and sadly succumbing to the disease, meaning it takes time for a dip in cases to show up in the deaths figures.
The total number of deaths from all causes in the most recent week was the fifth highest on record, official data shows.
They were only higher over two weeks in April when England and Wales were in the grips of the first wave and hospitals faced a mass influx of Covid-19 patients disrupting routine operations and procedures.
And they were higher in January 2000, when 20,566 were recorded, and January 1999, when 20,116 were registered.
Five out of the ten deadliest weeks since records began have occurred during the pandemic.
There were 2,364 fatalities, the ONS said, including residents who died in care homes, hospitals and other settings, up 37.5 per cent from the week before and more than three times the 745 registered in the last week of December.
Separate Care Quality Commission data shows it was notified of 2,357 deaths of care home residents involving Covid-19 in the week ending January 29. This is similar to the 2,366 notifications it received in the week ending January 22.
All regions of England also recorded an increase in registered Covid-19 deaths in the most recent week.
Three saw more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths registered: The South East (1,734 deaths – the highest weekly total since the pandemic began), London (1,400 deaths – the highest since the week to April 24 2020), and the East of England (1,216 deaths – the highest since the pandemic began).
London had the highest proportion of all fatalities from coronavirus, at 57.9 per cent.
In Wales the number of deaths fell by 4.3 per cent compared to the previous week to 447, according to the ONS.
The nation has been under a lockdown since Boxing day to curb the spread of the virus, whereas these draconian restrictions were not imposed in England until the new year.
Of deaths involving Covid-19 in 2020 and up to the third week of this year, 69 per cent occurred in hospital or 71,309 deaths, the ONS said.
The majority of the remainder – 24,709 – were in care homes, followed by private homes, at 5,188, and hospices, at 1,419.
