Covid now 18th leading cause of death in Wales

Covid-19 has now been overtaken by flu and pneumonia as a cause of death in Wales, latest mortality analysis shows.

For six of the past 13 months, Covid-19 was the biggest cause of death in Wales but in April it was the 18th leading cause.

There were 35 deaths due to Covid in April - 1.4% of all deaths, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed.

This was also the largest month-on-month fall since the pandemic began.

It was a 81.5% fall compared to March.

The age standardised mortality rate was 12.6 deaths per 100,000 - the lowest since last September.

Heart disease, dementia/Alzheimer's disease and strokes are the biggest causes of death - while even flu and pneumonia have now overtaken Covid, although this is still two-thirds lower than the five-year average.

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About 92% of communities across Wales experienced no deaths due to Covid at all in April.

Only Holyhead on Anglesey - with two deaths - had more than one.

And there is one community remaining which has had no Covid deaths at all through the pandemic - Llandudno Junction South and Llasanffraid Glan Conwy.

Covid accounted for 19% of all deaths in the first four months of 2021 but this was at the peak of the pandemic at the start of the year and it has shown a dramatic decline since.

It was responsible for 6.3% of all registered deaths in March; it was 22.2% in February and 35.2% in January.

Separate figures earlier this week showed so-called excess deaths, which compare all registered deaths with previous years, are now below the five-year average for the 10th successive week.

The number of deaths involving Covid-19 was five in the latest week - the lowest total since early September.

These accounted for 0.9% of all deaths, according to the ONS.

The trend has been for a steady decline and is 92% fewer Covid deaths than registered two months ago.

During the latest week, up to 7 May, there were no deaths in 17 out of Wales' local authority areas, including across the Aneurin Bevan, Cardiff and Vale, Hywel Dda and Powys health board areas.