Non-Covid deaths at home exceed 30,000 since March

Over 30,000 deaths, not related to Covid-19, have taken place in private homes in England and Wales since the beginning of the pandemic, according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Nearly half of those deaths (45%) were registered from the start of July this year, despite the number of Covid-19 deaths in private homes dropping sharply during the summer and early autumn.

Previous data found deaths in English for males from heart disease, from the start of the coronavirus pandemic through to early September, were 26% higher than the five-year average, while prostate cancer deaths had increased 53%.

For women, deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease had increased 75%, while deaths from breast cancer were up 47%.

However, the latest figures for care homes in England and Wales show that Covid-19 has accounted for a majority of excess deaths in those areas.

Two-thirds (16,748) of the 25,248 excess deaths registered in care homes, since the start of the pandemic, came from Covid-19.