Covid deaths October: 15 England and Wales areas with the greatest proportion of deaths due to coronavirus

More than 2,000 people had Covid-19 registered on their death certificate in October – these English and Welsh areas were the worst hit.

Thousands of deaths linked to Covid were registered in England and Wales in October, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal.

The figures, published today (8 November), show more than 46,000 deaths were registered in local authorities in October, of which, 2,303, or 5%, mentioned Covid-19 or suspected Covid anywhere on the death certificate. Although Covid will not always be the main cause of death it may be a contributory factor in deaths.

Cornwall was found to have been the worst affected by Covid deaths in October – not accounting for the size of the population – with32 coronavirus-related fatalities registered in total, followed by Leeds with 31, Sheffield with 28 and Bradford with 26. The figures cover deaths registered between 1 and 28 October.

This year has seen tens of thousands of Covid deaths registered in England and Wales. Almost 30,000 Covid deaths have been recorded so far in 2022, representing 6.2% of all deaths. The number peaked in the seven days to 23 January when 1,480 Covid deaths were registered. This also represented the greatest weekly proportion of deaths in 2022 with 11.6% being linked to Covid.

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Additional analysis by the ONS shows the scale of the impact Covid has had in England and Wales. Since the start of the pandemic 189,749 Covid deaths have been registered and 159,184 excess deaths. Excess deaths are the number of deaths that are above the estimated number normally expected, based on the average over the previous five years.

Last month 98.5% of councils in England and Wales registered at least one death with Covid on the death certificate. Here we reveal the 15 councils that had the greatest proportion of Covid related deaths in October, as of 28 October.

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