Responding to the weekly mortality stats from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the week ending 30 October 2020, Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Research Sarah Scobie said:
"Once again, the number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 has reached a bleak milestone.
"In the week up to 30th October, we have seen over 1,000 Covid deaths registered in England and Wales for the first time since June. A third of these deaths are concentrated in the North West of England correlating with the recent peaks in infections in October. Clearly we are now seeing the fallout from the looser social distancing restrictions over the summer beginning to play out.
"For the second week in a row the number of deaths recorded in hospitals is above the five-year average. It is likely we'll see this trend continue for further weeks in some regions as hospitals take in patients as a result of the second spike in infections. It remains still too early to see the impact on deaths of both the tiered system and national lockdown measures for England."
Notes to editors
- The Office for National Statistics weekly mortality statistics are available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending30october2020
- The Nuffield Trust is an independent health think tank. We aim to improve the quality of health care in the UK by providing evidence-based research and policy analysis and informing and generating debate.
- For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact Simon Keen on 07805 217935 or simon.keen@nuffieldtrust.org.uk