"Flu and pneumonia are killing five times as many people as coronavirus at present, with Covid deaths at their lowest since the end of March, figures show."

I copied this, but am.not managing FB well enough to have copied the source - a news article. If I find it I'll edit and include the source.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that overall deaths were below average for the time of year for the seventh consecutive week, while deaths from Covid-19 were at a 19-week low.

There were 193 deaths reported in the week ending July 31 that had coronavirus mentioned on the death certificate, continuing three months of falls since a weekly peak of 8,758 in April. It is the lowest figure since 103 died in the week ending March 20, on the eve of lockdown.

By contrast, 928 people died of flu or pneumonia in the last week of July, slightly fewer than previous years. This was the seventh consecutive week in which more people had died of flu or pneumonia than coronavirus.

While fewer than usual died in care homes and hospitals, 676 more died at home than in the average week. Experts fear that this is a consequence of people staying away from the NHS out of fear.

So far this year 380,064 people have died in England and Wales, 52,895 more than average; 51,710 death certificates mentioned coronavirus, including two fifths of deaths of people over 85. “The disease has had a larger impact on those most vulnerable and those at older ages,” the ONS said. “Some of these deaths would have likely occurred over the duration of the year but occurred earlier because of Covid-19. These deaths occurring earlier than expected could contribute to a period of deaths below the five-year average.”

After The Times revealed plans for the government to publish three separate daily death counts yesterday — all of which are calculated differently to the ONS figures — no figures were published “owing to technical difficulties”.

Ministers believe that the ONS figure is an overestimate because Public Health England counts anyone who has ever tested positive as a coronavirus death, whatever actually killed them. Although there were six more coronavirus deaths in English hospitals and two in Wales, the number outside hospitals in England could not be collated."

8-14-2020