Covid-19 caused just one in every 125 deaths in England and Wales in early June, according to official figures.
Symptoms of the virus were present in only 0.8 per cent of people who died in the week which ended on Friday, June 11, the Office for National Statistics said.
Almost 14 times as many deaths were attributed to flu and pneumonia.
The total of 84 Covid-related deaths is the lowest in more than eight months and the second lowest since the beginning of the pandemic.
Doctors reported that in 66 of the 84 deaths, the virus was considered the main cause.
It is yet more evidence that the link between Covid infections and deaths is breaking down.
Covid-19 caused just one in every 125 deaths in England and Wales in early June, according to official figures
Across the UK there were 93 Covid-linked deaths, the first time the number of weekly deaths across the whole country of those suffering from the virus has dropped below 100 since the beginning of the second wave late last summer.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the figures pointed towards a mid-July end to pandemic restrictions.
I hope that we can take the steps on July 19, that are pencilled in for then, because the data is looking encouraging, he told the BBC.
The new low for Covid deaths came in a week when overall numbers of deaths went sharply up.
Symptoms of the virus were present in only 0.8 per cent of people who died in the week which ended on Friday, June 11, the Office for National Statistics said
The ONS said that in England and Wales, 10,204 deaths were registered in the week ending June 11 2,426 more deaths than the previous week and 227 deaths above the average for the same week over the five-year period from 2015 to 2019.
The total was skewed by the spring bank holiday on May 31, the report said.
Because register offices are closed on a bank holiday, some deaths that happen in bank holiday weeks are not registered until the following week.
Across the UK, the number of deaths registered in the week ending June 11 was 11,611 285 more than the five-year average. The 93 UK Covid deaths were 15 fewer than in the previous week.
ONS figures record the number of deaths registered and the number in which doctors declared the presence of Covid symptoms on death certificates.
They are higher than numbers give in daily briefings by the Government, which show numbers of people who died within 28 days of a positive test.
Yesterdays report said that between the beginning of the pandemic and June 11, death certificates recorded 132,434 Covid-linked deaths in England and 7,897 in Wales.
According to Government briefings, there were 112,501 virus deaths in England and 5,572 in Wales.
