London becomes the first region in England to see deaths fall BELOW average as Covid-19 crisis continues to fade and coronavirus death toll plummets to 10-week low

• In London 891 people died of all causes between May 30 and June 5, down from 917 average for that week
• At least 47,820 people have died across England and Wales with Covid-19 so far, the ONS shows
• The backdated total for the entire UK stood at at least 52,594 for June 5, much higher than official
• Department of Health had counted 40,261 fatalities by then, missing out over 12,000 who were not tested

London has become the first region in England to see deaths fall below average for the first time since the coronavirus crisis spiralled out of control in March, as the outbreak continues to fade.

A weekly report from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that the number of people who died of any cause in London was three per cent lower than average between May 30 and June 5.

This includes people who died with the coronavirus as well as anyone else who died from other causes in that time. London's five-year average number of deaths for that week was 917 but dropped 2.8 per cent to 891 in 2020

Coronavirus was the cause of 113 of those deaths (12.6 per cent), the data showed, giving London one of the lowest Covid-19 death tolls in that week, higher only than the South West (85) and Wales (100) and on par with the North East (113).

Meanwhile, deaths remain proportionally higher than average in every other region of England, and Wales, with Wales still seeing 15 per cent more deaths than usual.

Other promising data shows the virus's death toll in England and Wales hit a 10-week low in the seven-day spell ending June 5, marking another significant fall.

The falling numbers of deaths and plateau in new cases means that the UK can continue to push out of lockdown, with 'non-essential' high street shops reopening to the public for the first time yesterday.  

Data from the ONS, National Records of Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) show at least 52,594 people had died of Covid-19 by June 5 - 12,000 more than official records showed at the time.

The week from May 30 to June 5 marked another significant fall in the number of people dying with the coronavirus in England and Wales as the weekly total hit a 10-week low and the lowest since the end of March.

Some 1,588 people died with the virus in that week, down 13 per cent from the 1,822 who died in the week before. 

England and Wales will not have returned to pre-lockdown levels of mortality until fewer than 539 people die in a week - that was the number recorded in the week ending March 27, when schools and workplaces closed.

As the weekly death toll continues to tumble - and some experts are hopeful it could hit zero by the beginning of July - Britain's total number of victims is still rising. It is third worst in the world behind only the US and Brazil.  

Department of Health officials have counted 41,736 Covid-19 deaths in Britain so far, from people who tested positive for the virus, with only 38 announced yesterday - the lowest number for a Monday since March.

But the ONS's data, updated today, suggests that the true figure was already 47,820 for England and Wales alone by June 5.

And the National Records of Scotland recorded 4,000 north of the border by June 7, while NISRA in Northern Ireland had 774 by June 5.

The reason these numbers are higher is that they include everyone who has the coronavirus mentioned on their death certificate, whether or not they were tested or whether it was the main cause of death.

COVID-19 DAMAGE MAKES LUNGS 'UNRECOGNISABLE' 

Covid-19 can damage the lungs of patients who died from the disease so badly that the organs become unrecognisable, a top expert has warned. 

Professor Mauro Giacca, from King's College London, analysed autopsies of patients who died in Italy after spending more than a month in hospital. 

He saw 'complete disruption of the lung architecture' in the patients, saying in some cases 'you can't even distinguish that it used to be a lung'. 

The cardiologist told the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee that he saw 'massive thrombosis', or blood clots, in the lungs.

One in three people who fall severely ill with coronavirus develop dangerous blood clots, which scientists believe is contributing to their deaths.

The clots can become fatal if they migrate to major organs, like the lungs, and cut off their blood supply.

Professor Giacca told Peers: 'What you find in the lungs of people who have stayed with the disease for more than a month before dying is something completely different from normal pneumonia, influenza or the Sars virus.

'You see massive thrombosis. There is a complete disruption of the lung architecture – in some lights you can't even distinguish that it used to be a lung.

'There are large numbers of very big fused cells which are virus positive with as many as 10, 15 nuclei.

'I am convinced this explains the unique pathology of Covid-19. This is not a disease caused by a virus which kills cells, which had profound implications for therapy.'

By June 5, to which the backdated data extends, the Department of Health had counted 40,261 victims, meaning at least 12,000 were missing from its count.

London becoming the first region to record fewer deaths than average for the first time since Covid-19 hit the city is a welcome milestone for the capital, which was hit hard and fast by the virus at the start of the outbreak.

Deaths in hospitals, nationally, are also now below average - the ONS data showed 11 per cent fewer people died in hospitals during the first week of June than would normally be expected.

But across the rest of England and Wales, people continued to die in larger-than-usual numbers because of the coronavirus outbreak.

This was felt most in Wales, where the number of deaths was 14.8 per cent higher than average.

In the North West there were 11.8 per cent more fatalities than usual, while the figure was 11.4 per cent in the West Midlands. No other region had more than 10 per cent excess deaths in that week: North East (9.5 per cent); Yorkshire & The Humber (8.6 per cent); East Midlands (8 per cent); South East (7.5 per cent); East (4.2 per cent) and South West (3.2 per cent).

The North West of England, which includes Cumbria, Manchester and Liverpool, had the highest actual number of extra deaths, with 156 more people than usual dying in a week - 22 per day. The total rose from 1,322 average to 1,478.  

The latest figures show 14.8 per cent of all deaths in England and Wales (one in seven) are now coronavirus-related - down from 18.5 per cent the week before and from a peak of 39.2 per cent (one in three) in mid-April.

It means the percentage of deaths involving Covid-19 declined for the seventh week running. 

The figures also show 64 per cent of all deaths registered so far this year (30,175 people) occurred in hospitals. 

A further 30 per cent (14,028) took place in care homes, with 5 per cent (2,152) in private homes, 1 per cent (640) in hospices, 0.5 per cent (214) in other communal establishments, and 0.4 per cent (178) elsewhere. 

The weekly breakdown shows there were 564 coronavirus deaths in care homes in the week ending June 5, down from 705 the previous week and 1,090 the week before that. 

The figures also show that the number of excess deaths across the whole of the UK since the coronavirus outbreak began has passed 64,000. 

Tuesday's ONS data shows there were 58,693 excess deaths in England and Wales between March 21 and June 5, while figures from the National Records of Scotland add an additional 4,769 excess deaths in Scotland between March 23 and June 7, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency put the figure for Northern Ireland at 940 excess deaths between March 21 and June 5. 

Together, this means the total number of excess deaths in the UK across this period now stands at 64,402. 

Additionally, the number of deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK has now passed 53,000, according to the latest available data. 

The data shows there was a greater number of coronavirus-related deaths registered for the week ending June 5 in the north-west of England (250) than any other region in England and Wales. 

The south-east of England registered 219, and Yorkshire and the Humber had 210. 

The number was down from 282 in the North West the previous week, but this means the region has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in four of the last five weeks. 

All figures are provisional and based on death registrations, which can result in a lag between the date the person dies and when it is recorded.   

REVEALED: HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED OF COVID-19 IN YOUR LOCAL AUTHORITY

LOCAL AUTHORITY	DEATHS	LOCAL AUTHORITY	DEATHS
Birmingham	1,167	Havant	106
Leeds	664	Folkestone and Hythe	106
County Durham	657	Wealden	105
Liverpool	551	Dartford	105
Sheffield	546	Welwyn Hatfield	105
Croydon	479	Hartlepool	104
Brent	478	Portsmouth	104
Cheshire East	471	Wyre	104
Bradford	457	South Derbyshire	102
Barnet	447	Tewkesbury	102
Wirral	405	Elmbridge	102
Ealing	396	Mole Valley	102
Harrow	390	Wychavon	101
Enfield	381	Neath Port Talbot	101
Buckinghamshire	374	Chorley	100
Manchester	371	Fareham	97
Walsall	365	East Hertfordshire	97
Cardiff	357	North Lincolnshire	96
Cheshire West and Chester	355	Telford and Wrekin	96
Sandwell	346	Warwick	96
Wiltshire	342	North Hertfordshire	95
Stockport	333	Dover	95
Sunderland	332	Eastleigh	94
Bromley	330	Broxtowe	93
Wigan	326	Stroud	92
Wakefield	324	Sevenoaks	92
Redbridge	309	Vale of Glamorgan	92
Hillingdon	308	High Peak	91
Bolton	306	Amber Valley	90
Salford	306	Bath and North East Somerset	89
Newham	302	Peterborough	89
Wolverhampton	296	Powys	89
Kirklees	295	Breckland	88
Dudley	292	Kettering	88
Rotherham	291	South Staffordshire	88
Derby	285	Guildford	87
Lewisham	285	Bridgend	87
East Riding of Yorkshire	278	Blackburn with Darwen	86
Coventry	278	Plymouth	86
Lambeth	278	Three Rivers	86
Rhondda Cynon Taf	278	East Northamptonshire	86
Sefton	272	Spelthorne	86
Havering	271	Surrey Heath	86
Solihull	266	Tandridge	86
Haringey	264	Denbighshire	86
Northumberland	261	Hinckley and Bosworth	85
Leicester	258	Darlington	83
Tameside	252	Brentwood	83
Oldham	245	Erewash	82
Southwark	244	South Ribble	82
Waltham Forest	244	Chesterfield	81
Central Bedfordshire	241	Rochford	81
Northampton	238	Gravesham	81
Bristol, City of	234	Cambridge	80
Newcastle upon Tyne	234	East Hampshire	80
Gateshead	228	Epsom and Ewell	80
Barnsley	223	Carmarthenshire	80
Greenwich	223	Isle of Wight	79
Shropshire	221	Fylde	79
Hackney	221	Rushcliffe	79
Hounslow	221	Rushmoor	78
Trafford	220	Chichester	78
Bexley	218	Scarborough	77
Warrington	216	Conwy	77
Nottingham	216	Castle Point	76
Bury	215	Barrow-in-Furness	75
Doncaster	214	Crawley	75
East Suffolk	211	Broxbourne	74
Wandsworth	210	North Warwickshire	74
Rochdale	204	Fenland	73
Cornwall	203	Worthing	73
Middlesbrough	198	Derbyshire Dales	72
Merton	196	Newark and Sherwood	72
Swansea	196	Oxford	72
Luton	195	West Suffolk	72
Milton Keynes	192	Monmouthshire	72
Basildon	191	Harlow	71
St. Helens	188	Cannock Chase	71
Tower Hamlets	185	Mid Suffolk	71
Kingston upon Hull, City of	182	Pendle	70
Westminster	182	Rugby	70
Medway	179	Blaby	69
Southend-on-Sea	178	Broadland	69
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	178	Tonbridge and Malling	68
Epping Forest	178	Woking	68
Stoke-on-Trent	176	Bracknell Forest	66
Hertsmere	175	Lancaster	66
Sutton	175	Runnymede	66
Reigate and Banstead	172	Allerdale	65
Hammersmith and Fulham	166	Eastbourne	65
South Gloucestershire	164	Sedgemoor	65
Swindon	162	Torfaen	65
Harrogate	162	Merthyr Tydfil	65
Southampton	161	Craven	64
Stratford-on-Avon	161	Daventry	63
Barking and Dagenham	161	Wellingborough	63
Newport	160	Staffordshire Moorlands	63
Reading	159	Gwynedd	63
Mid Sussex	159	Wrexham	63
Camden	159	Blaenau Gwent	63
Dorset	157	Uttlesford	62
York	156	Mansfield	62
Tendring	156	Arun	62
South Tyneside	156	Tunbridge Wells	61
Bedford	149	South Kesteven	61
North Tyneside	148	Hambleton	61
Islington	148	North West Leicestershire	60
Brighton and Hove	146	Worcester	60
South Lakeland	146	Torbay	58
Richmond upon Thames	146	Cotswold	58
East Staffordshire	145	Bassetlaw	58
Wokingham	144	South Cambridgeshire	57
Gloucester	144	Copeland	57
Chelmsford	139	Tamworth	57
King's Lynn and West Norfolk	139	Stevenage	57
Knowsley	138	Burnley	56
Ashfield	136	Harborough	56
Thurrock	134	Babergh	56
North East Derbyshire	134	Gosport	55
Waverley	134	Oadby and Wigston	55
Stockton-on-Tees	133	South Somerset	55
Thanet	133	Redditch	55
Cheltenham	132	Hyndburn	54
Nuneaton and Bedworth	132	Bolsover	53
North Somerset	130	South Norfolk	53
West Berkshire	130	Rossendale	51
Bromsgrove	130	North Norfolk	51
Kingston upon Thames	128	Rother	50
Caerphilly	128	East Cambridgeshire	49
Windsor and Maidenhead	127	South Holland	49
New Forest	125	South Northamptonshire	49
Blackpool	124	Hart	46
Newcastle-under-Lyme	124	East Lindsey	46
Redcar and Cleveland	123	Malvern Hills	46
Carlisle	123	East Devon	45
Kensington and Chelsea	122	Forest of Dean	45
Vale of White Horse	120	Corby	45
Ipswich	120	Somerset West and Taunton	45
Herefordshire, County of	119	Richmondshire	44
St Albans	119	North Kesteven	42
Huntingdonshire	118	Great Yarmouth	41
Dacorum	118	Selby	41
Preston	118	Pembrokeshire	40
Flintshire	118	Eden	39
Halton	116	Adur	39
Gedling	115	Exeter	38
Watford	113	North East Lincolnshire	34
Cherwell	113	Boston	34
West Oxfordshire	113	Teignbridge	32
Horsham	113	Maldon	32
Wyre Forest	112	Isle of Anglesey	30
Basingstoke and Deane	111	Ryedale	29
Ashford	111	Mendip	28
South Oxfordshire	111	North Devon	26
Lichfield	111	Melton	26
Stafford	111	Lincoln	25
Test Valley	110	Ribble Valley	23
Swale	110	West Lindsey	23
Calderdale	110	Norwich	22
Braintree	109	Rutland	21
Maidstone	109	Torridge	20
West Lancashire	109	Mid Devon	16
Canterbury	108	West Devon	15
Charnwood	108	South Hams	12
Winchester	107	Hastings	9
Slough	106	Ceredigion	7
Lewes	106	City of London	4
Colchester	106	Isles of Scilly	0