The number of coronavirus deaths registered in England and Wales has fallen for the second week running, new figures show.
There were 2,756 deaths registered in the week ending December 11 mentioning “novel coronavirus” on the death certificate, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
This is 79 fewer deaths than were registered during the previous week, or a 2.8% fall, with Covid-19 accounting for 22.4% of all deaths.
The previous week saw weekly registered deaths involving Covid-19 fall for the first time in three months, as the four-week national lockdown was lifted.
The number of deaths in hospitals, care homes and private homes remained above the five-year average.
And all English regions and Wales had a higher number of deaths than the five-year average for the fifth week in a row.
The number of deaths involving Covid-19 decreased in Wales and all English regions except the East Midlands, the East of England and the south-east of England
The North West continued to experience the largest number of deaths involving Covid-19 (426) despite a fall from the previous week.
The highest proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 was seen in Yorkshire and The Humber.
While deaths involving coronavirus in care homes and hospitals fell slightly, they rose in private homes.
A total of 81,416 deaths have so far been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, according to the latest reports from the UK’s statistics agencies.
This includes 73,730 deaths in England and Wales up to December 11 (and registered up to December 19), which were confirmed by the ONS on Tuesday.
Together, these totals mean that so far 84,198 deaths involving Covid-19 have taken place in the UK.
