England and Wales See Second-Highest Covid Death Toll of Crisis

(Bloomberg) -- Deaths linked to Covid-19 in England and Wales climbed to the second-highest level of the pandemic, underscoring the seriousness of the latest wave of the virus even as the government sees signs new infections are flattening out.

The total number of fatalities mentioning the disease rose to 8,422 in the week to Jan. 22 the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday. That’s the highest since the peak of the first wave in April.

The virus has contributed to more than 100,000 deaths in the U.K., and the nation is now under severe restrictions to control the spread of the disease. While daily case levels have started to fall and the rapid rollout of the vaccine is providing some hope, deaths are a lagging indicator and may reflect the dramatic spike in infections around the turn of the year.

London, which was particularly badly hit during the most recent spike of the virus, saw its total death toll increase to more than double the five-year average. For England and Wales as a whole, that measure of excess deaths stood at 41.3%.

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