Fewer Northumberland deaths registered in 2022 than in any year since pandemic began

It comes as Covid-19 dropped out of the top five leading causes of death across England and Wales, the Office for National Statistics figures outline.

Nationally, coronavirus accounted for 12.1% and 11.5% of all registered deaths in 2020 and 2021 respectively, but this dropped to just 3.9% in 2022, making it the sixth-highest cause of death.

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease led the way, accounting for 65,967 deaths (11.4%), up from 61,250 (10.4%) in 2021.

The ONS data shows 3,926 total deaths were registered in Northumberland in 2022 – down from 3,997 the year before.

It means there were fewer deaths last year than in any since the start of the pandemic, though they remain above 2019.

In 2019, 3,659 deaths were registered, while this rose to 3,969 in 2020.

Samantha Benham-Hermetz, director of policy and public affairs at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “As the impact of the pandemic recedes, we must learn from the lessons of Covid-19 and speed up progress in finding new ways to treat, diagnose and prevent dementia.”

Sarah Caul, ONS head of mortality analysis, said the figures represent a “significant change” in the leading causes of death since the beginning of the pandemic.

“For the third year in a row, we’ve seen more males than females dying, a reversal of the trend since the 1980s,” she added.

Some 292,064 male deaths were registered in England and Wales last year, compared with 285,096 female deaths.