Covid: Pandemic deaths in Wales pass 10,000

Rhondda Cynon Taf has consistently had the highest mortality rate in Wales involving Covid

The number of people in Wales who have died when Covid was a contributory cause has passed 10,000.

A total of 10,019 deaths involving Covid have occurred, according to the latest weekly figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

In the week up to 8 April, 56 people in Wales had a death registered which involved Covid-19 as a factor and every county had at least one death.

This is slightly fewer than the 61 deaths registered in the previous week.

There were 15 deaths in the Hywel Dda health board area, including eight in Carmarthenshire.

When counted by day occurring - not day registered - there were 41 deaths involving Covid in the past week in Wales, compared to 49 in the previous week.

There were 16 deaths involving Covid in the same week in 2021, although the peak of the second pandemic wave in the winter of 2020-21 brought far more.

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ONS publishes figures which show causes of death, as determined by doctors, and recorded on death certificates.

In Wales, 8.2% of all registered deaths involved Covid in the latest week. That figure was 9% in England.

Meanwhile, 64.3% of deaths involving Covid in England and Wales in the week to 8 April also had Covid as the underlying cause of death, so we can say these deaths were due to Covid.

Which areas have been hit hardest?

Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT) has the highest mortality rate over the course of the pandemic in Wales.

By 8 April, RCT had reached a total of 1,060 deaths and also had the seventh highest crude mortality rate (439.3 deaths per 100,000) of all local authorities across England and Wales.

Merthyr Tydfil (426 deaths per 100,000) was 12th highest while Cardiff has had the most deaths - 1,069 - up to 8 April.

ONS also records so-called "excess deaths", this has been seen as a useful measure of the pandemic's impact because it looks at deaths from all causes, compared with the five-year, non-pandemic average.

Since March 2020, there have been 6,520 more deaths than we might expect to see on average.

There were 681 deaths from all causes - 13 more (1.9%) than the average in the most recent week.

What is happening in hospitals?

Numbers of patients with Covid in hospital remain stable and admissions are falling, while there is still a high proportion who have tested positive but are being treated for other conditions.

Fewer than 100 patients are being treated primarily for Covid, according to latest Digital Health and Care Wales figures.

The numbers of patients with Covid in hospital beds has averaged 832 over the past week - about the same as the previous seven days.

Although we are now way above the number of patients in hospital with confirmed Covid we saw at the same point in 2021, the number of infections in the community has been considerably more.

But only 94 (15%) of confirmed Covid patients in acute beds on 20 April were being primarily treated for the virus, with 531 in hospital to be treated for other conditions.

Numbers in critical care are averaging 26 a day, slightly up on a week ago, but two-thirds of the number at the peak we saw in January.

There are currently about eight times more non-Covid patients in critical care than patients who had or have Covid.

Covid admissions are at an average of 31 a day - a drop on a week ago and about the same position we were in a month ago. This will include the high proportions of "incidental" Covid cases in hospital we have been seeing.

Covid cases now make up 3.5% of all admissions.