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Covid: Wales deaths lowest since October

Getty Images A vaccination queue in NewportGetty Images
A vaccination queue in Newport, where no Covid deaths were registered in the most recent week

The number of deaths involving Covid-19 has fallen for the eighth week in a row in Wales.

There were 68 deaths involving the virus, accounting for just under 10% of all deaths, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

This was 35 fewer deaths for the week ending 12 March than in the previous week, the lowest since 23 October.

There were no registered Covid deaths at all in Swansea, Newport, Blaenau Gwent and Ceredigion.

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The most deaths registered involving Covid were again in north Wales. The 23 deaths in the Betsi Cadwaladr area included five hospital deaths of patients from Denbighshire and four from both Gwynedd and Wrexham.

Cardiff and Vale saw 17 deaths and there were 10 deaths across the Cwm Taf Morgannwg area.

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Deaths overall continue at normal levels

So-called excess deaths, which compare all registered deaths with previous years, were below the five-year average for the second successive week.

Looking at the number of deaths we would normally expect to see at this point in the year is seen as a reliable measure of the impact of the pandemic.

The number of deaths in Wales fell to 685 in the week ending 12 March. This was 35 deaths (-4.9%) fewer than the five-year average.

When looking across the course of the pandemic so far, there have been 39,454 from all causes, 7,717 mentioning Covid-19 on the death certificate. This was 6,123 deaths above the five-year average.

When deaths occurring up to 12 March but counting later registrations are included, the total number of deaths involving Covid rises to 7,731.

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Looking back over two waves

The first death involving Covid-19 in Wales occurred in Wrexham on 15 March 2020.

By this time last year, when the lockdown was brought in, there had already been 35 deaths.

The ONS figures show us the two waves of the pandemic. The first had a shorter, sharp spike; the second over the winter proved worse than the first.

The first wave over two months - March to May - brought more than 2,100 deaths. The peak came on 12 April with 73 deaths.

The second wave was more sustained: over nearly four months from late October to the end of February there were more than 4,800 deaths. The peak came on 11 January, when there were 83 deaths.