Responding to the weekly mortality stats from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the week ending 15 January 2021, Nuffield Trust Deputy Director of Research Sarah Scobie said:
“Less than a year since the pandemic took off here in the UK, we will hit the tragic milestone of 100,000 deaths attributed to Covid-19. Worryingly, this harrowing figure does not take into account excess deaths indirectly associated with the virus.
“In the most recent weekly registered deaths data, we have reached the third-highest (7,245) number of Covid fatalities at any time during the pandemic. Two in five deaths registered in the week up to 15 January were Covid related, translating to over half of all deaths in hospitals and over a third in care homes. The building pressure is still felt right across the health and care system, and as we have only recently hit record daily reporting of deaths, we know registrations will remain high for another few weeks.
“The number of registered deaths from Covid of care home residents has increased by 25% since last week. The sector is again feeling the strain, and while the vaccine roll-out for the most vulnerable is continuing at impressive speed it will be a while until the benefits feed through to the figures.”
Notes to editors
- The Office for National Statistics weekly mortality statistics are available from: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/deathsregisteredweeklyinenglandandwalesprovisional/weekending15january2021
- 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.
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