Covid-19 update: Deaths fall to six-week low – but excess deaths still rising

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News and analysis

• New ONS data shows the proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 continues to fall in all English regions, but the excess death toll has reached over 60,000. Details below.
• Tory MP Douglas Ross has resigned as a government minister over the Dominic Cummings row. Details below.
• Non-essential shops can reopen from 15 June. Barbecues and garden parties of up to ten people may also be allowed.
• One in four adults in the UK is not receiving their mental healthcare because of lockdown, according to Public Health England.
• Busy Bees, the UK’s largest nursery group, will ban activities involving sand, water and play-dough when children return after lockdown.
• The 2020 Turner Prize for art has been cancelled. Tate Britain will instead award £10,000 to ten different artists.

‘Why are they called headlines?’

Covid deaths fall to six-week low – but excess deaths still rising

What elements of the Covid crisis remain most severe? New data from the Office for National Statistics shows 4,210 UK deaths linked to Covid-19 in the week to 15 May – the lowest number since the week to 3 April, just after the formal lockdown began.