Nearly 3,000 Covid deaths added to UK death toll following data error

Nearly 3,000 further coronavirus deaths have been added to the UK's official death toll after a data error was discovered. An extra 2,714 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were added to the figures on Wednesday, bringing the total number of deaths according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to 169,095.

The UKHSA said the 2,714 deaths, which all occurred in England this year, were "not reported in a timely manner" due to a "data processing error". They have now been retrospectively added to the official death toll.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) records its own death toll based on the number of people who have Covid-19 recorded on their death certificate. Under this method of counting, the death toll currently stands at just over 190,000.

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Both the ONS and UKHSA death figures have shown a small increase in the number of daily fatalities recorded in recent weeks, which reflects the impact of the surge of infections driven by the Omicron BA.2 variant. However, the number of deaths per day remains well below levels reached during the first and second waves of the pandemic.

It comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Covid-19 deaths have fallen globally in the last week. The number of cases reported globally also continues to fall.

In its latest pandemic report, the WHO said nine million cases were reported last week, a 16 per cent weekly decline, alongside more than 26,000 new deaths from Covid-19. However, the organisation warned that the reported numbers carry considerable uncertainty because many countries have stopped widespread testing for the coronavirus, meaning that many cases are likely going undetected.

The WHO