UK’s worst week for Covid-19 deaths far worse than viral post claims

Several posts on Facebook claim that “the highest weekly Covid deaths in the UK was 652”.

This is not true.

The most people to die with Covid-19 mentioned on their death certificate in a single seven-day period in the UK was 9,739, based on date of death, in the week ending 22 January 2021.

All these deaths involved Covid, and the disease was the underlying cause for most of them. In England and Wales, of the Covid deaths registered (but not necessarily occurring) in the week ending 22 January 2021, just over 90% had Covid as the underlying cause. 

The incorrect figure seems to come from a viral tweet that has since been deleted by the author, who now says it was wrong.

At least 652 people have died with Covid mentioned on their death certificate in many weeks since the pandemic started, including several weeks this year.

We’ve seen many false claims about the scale of the pandemic, which often seriously understate the number of people who died, or the severity of Covid-19. We have seen claims that overstated the seriousness of the disease as well.

Image courtesy of Vladimir Fedotov