Covid: Weekly deaths drop to two in Wales

There were two deaths involving Covid-19 in the latest week in Wales, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That is one fewer than last week and the lowest total we have seen since early September.

These deaths accounted for 0.4% of the total in the week ending 4 June.

The deaths occurred in hospitals involving patients from Powys and Wrexham.

The trend has been for a steady decline and the weekly total is 89% fewer Covid deaths than registered two months ago.

So-called excess deaths, which compare all registered deaths with previous years, have been below average for 13 of the past 14 weeks and the number was 82 deaths below the five-year average in the latest week.

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

The number of deaths from all causes in Wales fell to 464 in the week ending 4 June.

Scotland and Northern Ireland both had an above average number of deaths, but all English regions saw below average deaths for the week.

When looking across the course of the pandemic, there have been 46,505 deaths from all causes in Wales - 4,895 above the five-year average - with 7,893 (17%) mentioning Covid-19 on the death certificate.

When deaths occurring up to 4 June, but later registrations are included, the total number of deaths involving Covid rises to 7,894.

There were no care home deaths in Wales where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate for a third week in succession in the latest ONS total and there has been one in the past month.

The ONS figures are seen as a more reliable measure than the "snapshot" daily numbers reported by Public Health Wales.

They include all deaths registered - including in hospices and people's own homes - and when Covid is suspected and not just confirmed by a doctor as being a factor in a person's death.

Across England and Wales, Covid was the underlying cause of death in 58.2% of cases when it was mentioned on the death certificate, so the actual number of deaths due to Covid fell.

Deaths involving Covid fell in four English regions but rose in five others, including 14 more deaths in north-west England.