Coronavirus (COVID-19) roundup, 24 to 28 August 2020

This page contains data and analysis published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from 24 to 28 August 2020. Go to our live page for the most up-to-date insights on COVID-19.

28 August 2020

Deaths involving COVID-19 by local area and socioeconomic deprivation

We have published provisional analysis of all deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) that occurred in England and Wales between 1 March and 31 July 2020, (registered up to 15 August 2020), focusing on differences between local areas.

Our analysis shows that between March and July, there were 259,199 deaths occurring in England and Wales, 51,831 of which involved COVID-19 (20% of all deaths).

Over this period, there were 90.2 deaths involving COVID-19 per 100,000 people in England and Wales. Looking at both countries separately, this equates to 90.9 deaths per 100,000 people in England compared with 75.7 per 100,000 people in Wales.

Wales and all English regions recorded an increase in age-standardised mortality rates (ASMR) involving COVID-19 between March and April, followed by decreases in May through to July 2020. However, in England, for the month of July, the ASMR for deaths involving COVID-19 in the most deprived areas of the country was more than double that seen in the least deprived areas (3.1 deaths per 100,000 people compared with 1.4). This continued a theme seen in previous months.

Our analysis also shows that in July 2020, of the 336 local authority areas in England and Wales, 71 had no deaths in July involving COVID-19 and only two areas recorded more than 20 such deaths. These two areas were Leicester and Ashford, which saw 24 and 21 deaths involving COVID-19 respectively.

28 August 2020

Interactive map of deaths involving COVID-19

The coronavirus (COVID-19) has spread across the vast majority of neighbourhoods in England and Wales. The interactive map allows you to see the number of deaths occurring in the period March to July 2020, where COVID-19 was mentioned as a cause on the death certificate.

The size of the circle represents the number of deaths.

Enter your postcode or interact with the map to see the number of deaths in an area.

Number of deaths involving COVID-19 in Middle Layer Super Output Areas, England and Wales, deaths occurring between 1 March and 31 July 2020

Notes:

1. Points on the map are placed at the centre of the local area they represent and do not show the actual location of deaths. The size of the circle is proportional to the number of deaths.
2. To protect confidentiality, a small number of deaths have been reallocated between neighbouring areas. Given the method used for this, figures for some areas may be different to previously published data.
3. Deaths occurring between 1 March 2020 and 31 July 2020 and registered by 15 August 2020.
4. Figures exclude death of non-residents and are based on May 2020 boundaries.
5. Coronavirus (COVID-19) was the underlying cause or was mentioned on the death certificate as a contributory factor (International Classification of Diseases, tenth edition (ICD-10) codes U07.1 and U07.2).
6. Locally adopted Middle-layer Super Output Area (MSOA) names are provided by House of Commons Library. While these names are not officially supported for National Statistics, they are provided here to help local users.
7. Figures are provisional.
8. Please note, because of the low numbers this chart will not be updated for future months.

26 August 2020

International travel

Restrictions on international travel have been in place since early 2020 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Recently, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have started to ease travel restrictions for British travellers where countries are assessed as “no longer presenting an unacceptably high risk to British people traveling abroad”. We have included analysis up to June 2020 of recent international travel in our migration release.

These insights are not measures of international migration as they refer to travel patterns by all types of passengers, not just international migrants.

Home Office recent passenger arrivals

Home Office statistics published today using Advanced Passenger Information (API) show that there were an estimated 1.3 million passenger arrivals (including returning UK residents) in April to June 2020. This is 97% (27.7 million) fewer than the same period in 2019, and it is because of the coronavirus travel restrictions.

At the same time, the number of applications for visitor visas in Quarter 2 (Apr to June) 2020 was 99% lower than in the same period in 2019.

Recent travel insights

Using data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), we can see that the number of international air passengers arriving to and departing from the UK has fallen substantially since March 2020. Further disaggregation by UK country and those departing from the UK is available within the chart download file.

There has been widespread decline in international air travel to the UK since March 2020

Annual percentage change in monthly air passenger arrivals at airports in the UK from airports in regions of the world, January to June 2020

Source: Office for National Statistics analysis of Civil Aviation Authority data

Notes:

1. Country regions are where the foreign airport is located and are based on the country of residence groupings used in the International Passenger Survey (IPS).

2. For more information on this analysis, please see Section 11 of our Migration Statistics Quarterly Report.

There have been similar falls in the number of people travelling to and from the UK by sea. Provisional monthly figures produced by the Department for Transport, show the effect of travel restrictions on passenger numbers for short international ferry routes to Ireland and other European countries began to be seen in March 2020. Further impacts were then seen between April and June with the largest decrease in April 2020, when total passenger numbers dropped by 85% compared with the previous year.

26 August 2020

Number of working and workless households remains stable through lockdown

Between the start of April and the end of June 2020, there was an estimated 20.9 million households (where at least one member is aged 16 to 64 years) in the UK. Of these households, there were an estimated 12.5 million (59.6%) households that had an adult member in employment (working), while there were an estimated 2.7 million households (13.1%) where no member of the household was in employment (workless households). The number of households with a mix of at least one working and one workless adult was estimated at 5.7 million households (27.3%).

The percentage of working households was unchanged compared with the same period a year ago, whereas the proportion of workless households has been falling since comparable records began. Over the past year, this has fallen by 0.6 percentage points from 13.7% of all households.

The analysis was based on the Labour Force Survey and covered the period of implementation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic lockdown and social distance measures. Thus, interviews relate to the period following the government closure of schools, the introduction of lockdown, and the announcement of measures aimed at protecting businesses and jobs.

26 August 2020

Crime in the UK dropped by almost one-third during the most restrictive period of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown

The Crime Survey of England and Wales CSEW) estimated a 32% decrease in total crime, excluding fraud and computer misuse, during April and May 2020, compared with a two-month average in the pre-lockdown period.

The drop was primarily the result of dramatic reductions in acquisitive offences, particularly domestic burglary and other theft of personal property.

The lockdown presented fewer opportunities for acquisitive crimes to take place, as people were increasingly at home and leisure and entertainment venues and shops were closed.

Falls in police recorded theft offences and rises in drug offences during lockdown compared with 2019 average

England and Wales, January to May 2019 and January to May 2020: scale indexed where 100 = 2019 monthly average level

Notes:

1. Police recorded crime data are not designated as National Statistics.
2. Data from Greater Manchester Police are not included in this chart.
3. The index was calculated by dividing the number of police recorded incidents for each crime type and month by the average number of incidents for that crime type for the period January to December 2019. An index value of 100 is equivalent to the 2019 monthly average number of incidents; a value above 100 indicates an increase from the average while a value below 100 indicates a decrease.

Police recorded crime was also lower than during April and May 2019. There was 25% less crime in April 2020 and 20% less in May 2020. Theft offences were almost half that of April and May 2019; in April 2020, theft decreased by 47% compared with April 2019 and by 45% in May 2020, compared with May 2019.

Drug offences bucked the overall downward trend during this period, up by 22% in April 2020 and 44% in May 2020, compared with April and May 2019.

25 August 2020

Perceptions of unity have decreased as the pandemic has progressed

As time has progressed through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, public perception on unity has altered. Between 24 April and 28 June 2020, the weekly Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) found that the percentage of adults who thought that Britain would be more united after the pandemic declined by 29 percentage points (from 57% in the first week of the period to 28% in the last week).

Over the period as a whole more people thought that Great Britain would be more united after the pandemic (46%) than before the outbreak (24%). When divided by nation, adults in Scotland were less likely (31%) to think Britain will be more united after the pandemic than those in England (47%) or Wales (44%).

Although people in Scotland were more likely to think that Britain will be united after the coronavirus pandemic than to think it was united before, they were less likely to say this than those in England or Wales

Percentage of people reporting different levels of unity in Britain before and after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by country, Great Britain, 24 April to 28 June 2020

A gender divide in perceptions of unity after the pandemic has emerged. While women were as likely as men to say that Britain was united before the pandemic, when asked to think about the future, 51% of women thought that the nations would be more united following the pandemic, while only 41% of men agreed.

The study found a correlation between perceptions of unity and higher average life satisfaction, happiness and feelings that things done in life are worthwhile. Other factors that were associated with perceptions of unity included checking on neighbours, feeling like the community is available to support you, and thinking people are doing more to help others.

25 August 2020

Changing occupations

We have analysed data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) to work out how many workers have changed occupations between January to March and April to June of 2020.

This helps us understand the extent to which the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to an increase in skills mismatch in the labour market (people doing jobs for which they are over- or under-qualified).

Our analysis suggests that the pandemic has so far had little impact on the number of people switching occupations. Around 1 in 16 employees (6.1%) changed occupation in the first half of 2020, compared with 5.7% in the same period last year.

This broadly reflects the impact of the government's job retention schemes, which encourage an attachment between individuals and a specific job.

Of those who changed occupation, more than half (52.5%) switched to a different industry. Again, this is little changed from the same period in 2019 (52.1%).