COVID-19: Coronavirus was third most common cause of death in October – having not been in top 10 month before
Written by News on 19/11/2020
Coronavirus was the third most common cause of death in England and Wales in October – having not been among the 10 leading causes of fatality the month before.
The Official for National Statistics (ONS) has said 3,367 (7.8%) of the 43,265 deaths in England last month involved COVID-19.
There were also 2,713 more deaths in England than the five-year average for October.
There were 2,992 deaths registered in Wales in October – 258 more than the five-year average.
The figures for England and Wales show mortality rates for deaths due to coronavirus have increased for the second month in a row.
It comes as the government’s weekly Test and Trace figures show a total of 167,369 people tested positive for COVID-19 at least once in the week to 11 November.
This is the highest weekly number since the system was launched at the end of May and is 11% up on the previous week.
In the ONS figures, the age-standardised mortality rate for deaths due to COVID-19 in October was 63.5 deaths per 100,000 people in England and 81.9 deaths per 100,000 people in Wales.
The age-standardised death rate in England in September due to COVID-19 was 12.6 per 100,000 people.
It was 10.8 per 100,000 people in Wales.
The rate is a weighted average of the age-specific mortality rates per 100,000 people.
Although mortality rates due to COVID-19 increased in October, they remain significantly lower than in April and May.
The leading cause of death in October was dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, accounting for 11.3% of all deaths in England and 10.2% in Wales.
The second most common cause of death in October was heart disease.
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There have so far been 448,579 overall deaths in England in 2020 – 37,873 more than the five-year average for January to October, according to the ONS.
There have been 29,018 deaths in Wales – 1,419 more than the five-year average.
COVID-19 was the underlying cause of 50,012 deaths that occurred in England (11.1%) and 2,629 of all deaths in Wales (9.1%) from January to October 2020.
This week’s government Test and Trace data shows that of those who tested positive, some 60.5% had their close contacts traced. This is unchanged from last week.
Oxford University has said its COVID-19 vaccine produces a strong immune response in older adults.
The phase one and phase two results suggest that one of the groups most at risk of death or serious illness from COVID-19 may be able to build immunity, according to data published in The Lancet medical journal.
(c) Sky News 2020: COVID-19: Coronavirus was third most common cause of death in October – having not been in top 10 month before
