Coronavirus: Weekly death figures continue to fall

Less than a fifth of UK deaths in the last week of May were linked to coronavirus, figures show.

Across the UK, 2,000 (18%) of deaths mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate, compared to 38% at the peak in April.

The data shows trends in both overall excess deaths and those involving Covid-19 are falling.

But they also show that just under 64,000 more people had died by the end of May than would be seen on average.

The figures, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) and National Records Scotland (NRS) data cover all deaths in hospitals, care homes and private homes.

In comparison, the figure issued daily by the government is the number of deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19.

These figures, for the week up to 29 May, show just over 11,000 deaths occurred that week, around 1,800 above normal.

In total, the ONS suggests there have been more than 50,000 deaths where coronavirus is mentioned by the end of May, compared to the government's current figure of 40,597

Nick Stripe, head of health analysis at the ONS, said some deaths involving coronavirus in care homes "will have brought forward deaths that might otherwise have happened relatively soon".

He added in a tweet: "We might expect deaths not involving Covid in care homes to fall below the five-year average in the next few weeks."

The north east region saw the highest proportion of deaths involving coronavirus at 25%.