Coronavirus caused three times more deaths than pneumonia and flu combined in the first eight months of this year, according to new figures.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed there were 48,168 deaths due to COVID-19, 13,619 due to pneumonia and 394 deaths due to influenza in England and Wales between January and August.
“Since 1959, which is when ONS monthly death records began, the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia in the first eight months of every year have been lower than the number of COVID-19 deaths seen, so far, in 2020,” said Sarah Caul, head of mortality analysis at the ONS.
In care homes, which have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic, the proportion of deaths due to COVID-19 was almost double those caused by flu and pneumonia.
The mortality rate for COVID-19 is also “significantly higher” than flu and pneumonia rates for both this year and the five-year average.
At the beginning of the pandemic, many had dismissed the novel coronavirus as no more dangerous than flu.
But the ONS figures are in stark contrast to these claims.