There were more than 1,600 coronavirus-linked deaths outside of hospitals in England and Wales in March, new Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures suggest.

In new figures published on Thursday, the ONS said there were 3,912 deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales last month.

Of those, 3,372 (86%) had COVID-19 assigned as the underlying cause of death.

Previously, hospitals in England and Wales had reported 2,226 deaths of people who tested positive for coronavirus, as of 5pm on 31 March.

This suggests there were around 75% more coronavirus-linked deaths in the two countries in March than previously reported.


The ONS figures count every death in March for which coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate.

There were a total 47,358 deaths of all causes in England and Wales in March - and which were registered by 6 April - meaning that those involving coronavirus accounted for 8% of that total.

Dementia and Alzheimer's disease (6,401 deaths), and coronary heart disease (4,042 deaths) were the two biggest killers in March.

COVID-19 was the third most frequent underlying cause of death for deaths occurring in March.

The ONS figures also show that, of the deaths involving COVID-19 that occurred in March, there was at least one pre-existing condition in 91% of cases.

Coronary heart disease was the most common main pre-existing condition found among deaths involving COVID-19 and was involved in 541 deaths (14% of all deaths involving COVID-19).

Pneumonia, dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were also among the most common pre-existing conditions.

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One in five deaths from COVID-19 in March were of those aged between 80 to 84.

The rate of death due to COVID-19 increased significantly in each age group, starting from age 55 to 59 years in males and age 65 to 69 years in females

The ONS also found that males had a significantly higher rate of death due to COVID-19 - double that of females.