Coronavirus deaths in Wales show further fall

There were no deaths from coronavirus across the Aneurin Bevan health board area in the latest figures

The number of deaths from coronavirus in Wales has fallen to 39 in the most recent week, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.

This is down from 57 deaths in the previous week.

There were no deaths reported in Aneurin Bevan health board, which had been an early "hot spot" for the virus.

Betsi Cadwaladr health board saw more than half of the deaths (21) in the week to 19 June, including eight in Conwy.

This reflects what health officials had been anticipating, with the virus peaking later in north Wales than in the south east.

No deaths were reported in nine council areas including Ceredigion, Merthyr Tydfil, Neath Port Talbot and Pembrokeshire.

Conwy with eight deaths was behind only seven council areas in England for numbers of deaths for this particular week.

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The number of deaths registered which involve Covid-19 now totals 2,408 up to 19 June.

These include all deaths - suspected and confirmed of having the virus - in hospitals, care homes and people's homes up to 19 June, and which were also registered up to 27 June.

The ONS figures also show more than 2,000 so-called "excess deaths" so far this year.

That is 12% more than we would normally expect to see, taking into account winter flu and other seasonal illnesses.

In the week ending 19 June there were 44 more deaths in Wales than the five-year average, with coronavirus accounting for 6.3%.

The death rate in the UK as a whole was back to normal.

For that week, Wales had the highest percentage of deaths above the five-year average at 7.7%.

The highest in England was 6.6% in the East Midlands.

The figures also showed:

• There were seven deaths in care homes involving Covid-19 registered in the latest week - the lowest number since the pandemic began. Deaths in care homes represent 28% of the total.

• Rhondda Cynon Taff has the highest death rate in Wales - 121.6 deaths per 100,000

• Cardiff still has the highest total number of deaths in Wales - 366 (100.5 deaths per 100,000)

• Ceredigion has the lowest number of deaths - seven - and the second lowest death rate after the Isles of Scilly across England and Wales.

The total figure from ONS is 921 deaths higher than the total Public Health Wales gave for the same period in its daily bulletins, because it only reports cases confirmed in laboratories - mostly in hospitals.