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Coronavirus in Wales: Deaths with coronavirus lowest for 10 weeks

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There were no deaths with Covid-19 registered in four Welsh local authority areas

The number of weekly deaths involving coronavirus in Wales has fallen to the lowest number since the end of March.

But Wales has the highest proportion of so-called "excess deaths" for this particular week, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This is when deaths from all causes are looked at to see if numbers are above what we might normally expect to see.

There were 100 deaths involving Covid-19 but there were 90 overall deaths more than the five-year average.

The figures show:

  • In Wales, there were 100 deaths involving Covid-19 registered in the week ending 5 June, accounting for 14.3% of all deaths registered in Wales
  • There were no new coronavirus deaths registered at all in Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire
  • The most deaths registered were in the Betsi Cadwaladr health board area, with 30, and 27 of those in hospital
  • Rhondda Cynon Taff had the most deaths registered among local authority areas in Wales, with 11
  • There have now been 278 Covid-19 deaths in the area, with Cardiff having 357 deaths
  • Overall, there has been a total of 2,317 deaths involving coronavirus in Wales. These are deaths occurring up to 5 June, and having been registered by 13 June
  • The number of deaths in care homes is also falling. There were 28 where Covid-19 was confirmed or suspected by doctors in the most recent week. At the peak in April there were 125 deaths in one week
This table gives a breakdown of registered Covid-19 deaths so far by council area

The ONS figures include all suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19 and those taking place in homes, care homes and hospitals.

This is 913 more deaths for the same period than those given in the daily updates by Public Health Wales.

Those figures only include cases confirmed in a laboratory and mostly only include hospital deaths.

Excess deaths

In Wales, the number of deaths from all causes rose from 587 to 700 in the week ending 5 June.

This is 90 deaths or 14.8% more than the five-year average.

Looking at this average - which accounts for spikes in deaths at particular times of the year - is seen as a useful guide to what is happening with the pandemic.

London meanwhile has become the first area in Wales or England to go below the five-year average since pandemic began.

But there is still a decreasing trend in excess deaths involving Covid-19 when we look across the whole pandemic.

Wales also has a lower proportion of these (12.8%) compared to England (15.6%).

The overall number of deaths in Wales up to 5 June was 17,968, which is 2,018 more than the five-year average.

Of these, 2,300 death certificates mentioned Covid-19.

The number of overall deaths registered in Wales and England in the week ending 5 June was 10,709 - 885 higher than the previous week, but this is likely to be due to the bank holiday.

This is also 732 deaths (7.3%) higher than the five-year average.

There were 1,588 deaths mentioning coronavirus, the lowest weekly number for nine weeks and it accounted for 14.8% of all deaths.