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Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights 21 September 2021

22 September 2021

ONS have reported that:

  • Household greenhouse gases dropped by 10% in 2020 because of an increase in people staying at home.

  • A sharp drop in personal travel such as the commute to work, and people being furloughed drove greenhouse gas emissions down by 15 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent in 2020.

  • Energy use increased, because of people staying at home, but these additional emissions were more than offset by the drop in travel emissions.

 

ONS have also published our monthly mortality analysis for August 2021, which showed

  • There were 40,460 deaths registered in England, 3,650 deaths (9.9%) more than the August five-year average (2015 to 2019).

  • In Wales there were 2,614 deaths registered in Wales, 119 deaths (4.8%) more than the August average.

  • Coronavirus (COVID-19) was the third leading cause of death in August 2021 in England (accounting for 5.3% of all deaths registered in August); in Wales, COVID-19 was the seventh leading cause of death and accounted for 2.7% of all deaths.

  • Meanwhile, 11, 035 deaths were registered in England and Wales, in the week ending 10 September 2021 (week 36), more than the previous week, which was a bank holiday.

  • Of the deaths registered in week 36 in England and Wales, 857 mentioned "novel coronavirus (COVID-19)", accounting for 7.8% of all deaths; this was an increase compared with week 35 (659 deaths).

  • The number of deaths involving COVID-19 in England increased to 786 in week 36 compared with 632 in week 35; for Wales, deaths involving COVID-19 increased to 65 in week 36 compared with 25 in week 35.

  • The number of deaths registered in the UK in the week ending 10 September 2021 was 12,503, which was 2,057 more than the five-year average; of deaths registered in the UK in week 36,994 involved COVID-19, that is, 213 more than in week 35.

The latest public sector finances for August 2021 said the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a substantial impact on the economy and on public sector borrowing and debt.

  • Central government tax and National Insurance receipts combined in the financial year ending (FYE) 2021 were £670.8 billion, a fall of £32.5 billion, compared with the same period a year earlier.

  • Government support for individuals and businesses during the coronavirus pandemic contributed to an increase of £204.4 billion in central government day-to-day (or current) spending, bringing the total to £942.5 billion.

  • As a result of these low receipts and high expenditure, provisional estimates indicate that in FYE 2021, the public sector borrowed £325.1 billion. This is equivalent to 15.5% of the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP), the highest such ratio since the end of World War Two, when it was 22.4% in FYE 1945.

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