Coronavirus (COVID-19) roundup 6 May 2021

ONS have published data on vaccination rates among different ethnic groups, provisional estimates of alcohol-specific deaths in 2020 and some up-to-date indicators of economic and social activity.  

The main points include:

• Among adults aged 50 years and over in England, those identifying as Black Caribbean and Black African were the least likely to have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by 12 April 2021 (66.8% and 71.2% respectively); this compares with 93.7% of the White British population.

• Separate data show that 30% of Black or Black British adults were hesitant towards COVID-19 vaccines in the period 31 March to 25 April 2021; this had improved since the start of the year but remained the highest among all ethnic groups.

• There were 7,423 deaths from alcohol-specific causes registered in England and Wales in 2020 (equivalent to 13.0 per 100,000 people), the highest since records began in 2001.

• The difference between 2019 and 2020 widened in each successive quarter; the age-standardised rate of alcohol-specific deaths in 2020 was 8.5% higher in Quarter 1, 17.4% higher in Quarter 2, 21.9% higher in Quarter 3 and 28.3% higher in Quarter 4, than in the equivalent quarter of 2019.

• Seated diner restaurant reservations on Saturday 1 May 2021 were at 71% of the level seen on the same Saturday in 2019, 9 percentage points higher than the equivalent figure from the previous week.

Read the ONS roundup