The number of deaths involving coronavirus registered each week in England and Wales has fallen to its lowest level for nine months.
A total of 547 deaths registered in the seven days to May 20 mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is down 24% on the previous week and is the lowest total since early August 2021.
It is the third week in a row that deaths have decreased, which suggests the figures are now on a downwards trend.
There have been similarly sharp falls in recent months in the number of Covid-19 infections and patients in hospital with the virus.
Infections in both England and Wales hit an all-time high at the end of March, but in England they have dropped to levels last seen in November 2021 and in Wales they are back to where they were in September.
Hospital patients in England are now at their lowest level since July 2021, while in Wales they are the lowest since September.
All the latest data suggests there is an ongoing fall in the prevalence of Covid-19 among the population, with the virus circulating at much lower levels than those seen during the Omicron BA.2 wave earlier in the year.
The last remaining Covid restrictions anywhere in the UK were lifted on Monday, when the legal requirement to wear a face-covering in health and care settings in Wales came to an end.
First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford said people could look forward to a “brighter future”, though he urged the public to keep taking steps to protect themselves, such as self-isolating if they have Covid symptoms and staying up-to-date with vaccinations.
Overall, 198,079 deaths have now occurred in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, the ONS said.
The highest number on a single day was 1,488, on January 19 2021.
During the first wave of the virus, the daily toll peaked at 1,461 on April 8 2020.
Around nine in 10 deaths with Covid-19 on the death certificate since the start of the pandemic have coronavirus as the primary cause of death, with a minority listing the virus as a contributory factor.
