UK’s wider Covid-19 death toll nears 150,000

More than 149,000 deaths involving coronavirus have now occurred in the UK, latest figures show.

A total of 149,117 people have had Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate since the pandemic began, with more than a third of deaths (37%) occurring since the start of 2021.

The highest number of deaths to take place on a single day was 1,465 on January 19.

During the first wave of the virus, the daily death toll peaked at 1,459 deaths on April 8.

The figures have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and provide the fullest picture so far of how the Covid-19 pandemic has unfolded in the UK.

They are a more comprehensive measure of deaths than the numbers published daily by the Government, which count only those who died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus, and which currently stand at a total of 126,172.

The ONS total of 149,117 includes all mentions of Covid-19 on death certificates for deaths that have occurred up to March 12 2021, including suspected cases.

About nine in 10 registered coronavirus deaths have Covid-19 listed as the underlying cause.

One year ago on March 23 2020 – the day Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first UK-wide lockdown – the cumulative death toll, based on the ONS count of death certificates, passed 1,000.

Just 13 days later, on April 5, it passed 10,000.

Analysis of the ONS data by the PA news agency shows that:

– Since January 1 2021, 54,445 deaths involving Covid-19 have occurred in the UK: 37% of the total since the pandemic began.

– Using the end of August 2020 as a dividing line between the first and second waves, 57,823 deaths took place in the first wave, while 91,294 deaths have so far taken place in the second wave.

– More than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths occurred each day for 24 days in a row in January. During the first wave of the virus, the daily death toll topped 1,000 for 23 consecutive days in April.

– The grim milestone of 100,000 deaths was passed on January 7, and 125,000 deaths on January 26.

– The number of deaths taking place has slowed, however, with the cumulative total taking 10 days to rise from 125,000 to 135,000, then 17 days to reach 145,000. It then took another 17 days to reach 149,000 on March 11.