New figures from the Office for National Statistics have shown that fewer deaths were registered in Mendip in 2022 than in any year since the start of the pandemic.

The report also revealed that Covid-19 had fallen out of England and Wales's top five leading causes of death.

While the virus accounted for 12.1% and 11.5% of all registered deaths in 2020 and 2021, respectively, this dropped to just 3.9% in 2022, marking it the sixth-highest cause of death.

Dementia and Alzheimer's disease were the leading cause of deaths, accounting for 11.4% of all registered deaths in 2022, up from 10.4% in 2021.

The ONS data shows that 1,270 deaths were registered in Mendip in 2022, down from 1,271 the previous year. This represents fewer deaths than in any year since the pandemic began, although the number remains above 2019. In contrast, 1,192 deaths were registered in 2019, while this rose to 1,301 in 2020, the highest figure during the pandemic.

The success of the vaccination program in reducing the number of seriously ill and deceased infected people was reflected in the fact that 2022 saw a fall in Covid-19 deaths, not a rise. Vaccines were first rolled out across the country in early 2021, with booster doses subsequently made available to older and vulnerable groups.

Director of policy and public affairs at Alzheimer's Research UK, Samantha Benham-Hermetz, commented on the data, saying that "our most recent survey showed that two in 10 people are unaware that dementia is even a cause of death, yet last year it claimed nearly 66,000 lives in England and Wales alone." She urged the government to learn from the lessons of Covid-19 and find new ways to treat, diagnose, and prevent dementia.

Sarah Caul, ONS head of mortality analysis, described the figures as representing a "significant change" in the leading causes of death since the start of the pandemic.

She noted that for the third year in a row, there have been more male deaths than female deaths, which is a reversal of the trend since the 1980s.

Last year, there were 292,064 male deaths registered in England and Wales compared with 285,096 female deaths.