Coronavirus caused more deaths in the UK last year than any other infectious disease in more than a century, new figures show.
More than 140,000 people have now died with Covid-19 mentioned as the underlying cause or a contributory cause on their death certificates, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
That includes 73,500 people in England and Wales registered in 2020, as well as nearly 4,400 further deaths which were attributed to other infectious and parasitic diseases.
This means Covid-19 was the underlying cause of more deaths last year than any other infectious and parasitic diseases since 1918 – when there were just over 89,000.
The figures were released by the ONS as part of a larger report illustrating how 2020 was ‘a year like no other’.
The report states: ‘It has been a year since people across the UK were told they should limit their non-essential contact with others and stop all unnecessary travel.
‘On March 16, 2020, people were told to work from home wherever possible while everyone was told to “avoid pubs, clubs, theatres and other such social venues”, to try to curb the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19).
‘A week later, on March 23 2020, the UK’s first lockdown would begin. From deaths and the pressure on hospitals, to the number of hours worked and people’s expectations of rising unemployment, we can see how the remarkable figures recorded over the past 12 months compare with others and made this a year like no other.’
Other statistics show how the number of adults requiring critical care far exceeded previous winters.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the huge pressure placed on the health service during the pandemic, there was nearly double the number of critical care beds open between January 20 and February 5 this year than there was throughout January and February between 2017 and 2020.
More than 5,000 adult critical care beds a day were occupied in hospitals in England in the last week of January this year, compared with around 3,000 a day in the same week in 2020.
Between January 20 and February 5, there were more than 6,000 critical care beds open each day. Throughout January and February between 2017 and 2020, the number ranged between 3,500 and just over 3,900.
The report also outlined how the number of weekly hours worked fell significantly during lockdown when compared with previous years.
With nearly nine million people on furlough and huge swathes of the retail and hospitality sectors unable to trade as normal due to stay at home orders, the average number of hours worked in the UK per person per week fell to 25.9 in April to June 2020, compared with 32.3 in the same three months of 2019.
The report notes that ‘this was the lowest since January to March 2008, when average weekly working hours were 30.9 per person’.
Accommodation and food services industries, which included people furloughed from closed pubs, hotels and restaurants, recorded a 54% fall in average weekly hours, with 13.0 hours per worker on average compared with 28.4 over the same periods.
The drop was less harsh in industries where staff were able to work from home, such as the financial and real estate sectors, where it was only 6%.
Job vacancies also plummeted when the country went into lockdown.
The statistics show that ‘for many industries, the fall in job vacancies during 2020 was bigger than the 2008 economic downturn’.
According to the report, vacancies stood at 802,000 across the UK in October to December 2019.
During the first lockdown, they fell by 57% to a low of 343,000. By October to December 2020, the number of vacancies had risen again to 590,000, but was still down 26% on the same three months of 2019.
People’s fear of unemployment also rose sharply while their financial expectations fell at the fastest rate on record, the report adds.
Based on scores registered on the Eurobarometer Consumer Survey, it says ‘the largest month-on-month rise on record in people’s expectations for unemployment to increase’ came after March 2020, when lockdown started.
It rose again in May last year, by which time it stood at its highest level since January 2012.
Financial expectations for the next 12 months also fell at the fastest rate since records began, down from 1.5 in the month up to March 2020 to negative 9.9 in April 2020.
However, they recovered slightly in May and the rating was slightly more positive by December last year, the report adds.
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