There have been a total of 200,247 deaths from Covid, with 294 in the last week. The figures include deaths due to Covid-19 as well as those related to the virus. More than 100,000 deaths had been recorded in the UK by early January 2021, less than a year into the pandemic. It took more than a year and a half for the death toll to double, with vaccination uptake, better understanding of how to deal with the virus and social distancing measures contributing to fewer deaths. The UK has one of the highest death tolls in Europe, with a death rate of 2,689 per million people. The rate is higher than Spain’s 2,295 deaths per million people, France’s 2,230 and Germany’s 1,704 deaths per million people, according to data from Our World In Data on July 12. The UK’s excess death rate is also higher than other European averages, at 2,070 per million people, more than double Germany’s at 1,110, according to Our World in Data. The proportion of people dying from Covid as the main cause of death compared to those whose death certificates list the virus as either the main cause or a contributing factor has also fallen during the pandemic. Analysis of registration numbers for England and Wales for the pandemic to date shows that, in the first wave, 91% of people died directly as a result of Covid. Since Omicron became the dominant variant, this has dropped to 68% of Covid deaths, with 60% of deaths due to the virus in recent weeks as a result of the reduced severity of the strain and the success of the vaccine rollout. The figure of 200,247 differs slightly from that reported by the Covid Dashboard, which uses registration data and the government’s preferred number of deaths within 28 days of a positive test, which was 177,977 at 9.30am. of Wednesday.
