Proportion of deaths from Covid in England and Wales hits all-time high

Covid-19 has accounted for the highest proportion of deaths in England and Wales of any week so far during the pandemic, claiming more than half of lives lost in some areas, according to new data.

The virus was mentioned on death certificates in 55% of all cases in the east of England, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the last week of January.

The spread of new variants also helped push the absolute number of deaths from Covid to its second-highest level of the crisis so far. But deaths from other causes remain well below the average and fell to their lowest level for five years, according to Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, the chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge.

Across England and Wales, coronavirus was recorded as having been involved in nearly half of all deaths, or 46%. In the week ending 29 January, Covid pushed death tolls in all English regions higher than the five-year average for the 12th week in a row. But deaths not involving the virus were 22% below the five-year average, the ONS said, continuing a trend that began in October.