Coronavirus has caused three times more deaths than flu and pneumonia combined this year
Coronavirus has killed three times as many people as flu and pneumonia combined in the first eight months of 2020, according to official figures.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) today said there have been 48,168 Covid-related deaths in England and Wales this year, compared to 13,619 due to pneumonia and 394 due to flu.
Flu and pneumonia were mentioned on more death certificates than Covid-19 between January and August this year, however coronavirus was the underlying cause of death in over three times as many deaths, ONS figures showed.
Though the highest number of deaths due to flu and pneumonia occurred in January, the number of fatalities has remained below the five-year average in every month this year.
“Since 1959, which is when ONS monthly death records began, the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia in the first eight months of every year have been lower than the number of Covid-19 deaths seen, so far, in 2020,” said Sarah Caul, head of mortality analysis at the ONS.
The proportion of Covid-19 deaths in care homes was almost double those caused by flu and pneumonia in the eight months to August.
Second wave
It comes as the UK government scrambles to contain a sharp spike in infections across the country, with politicians in virus hotspots warning that current coronavirus restrictions are “not working”.
A further 14,162 coronavirus cases were reported in the UK yesterday, marking a slight dip since Tuesday’s figure. The new infections took the total number of confirmed cases in the UK to more than 530,000.
The rate of infection in parts of the country has now soared beyond the threshold of 20 cases per 100,000 used by the government to introduce quarantine measures on other countries.