The number of Covid-19 deaths registered in England and Wales has risen for the fourth week in a row – although numbers remain well below those seen early on in the pandemic, figures show.

Some 687 deaths registered in the week ending October 21 mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

This represents 5.8% of all deaths registered that week, and is a 21.6% rise from the previous seven days, when 565 coronavirus deaths were registered.

It is also the highest number of weekly registered deaths involving Covid-19 since the week ending August 5.

The rise is being driven by the latest wave of Covid-19 infections, which has been under way since the start of September.

Data released by the ONS last week suggests the rise in infections in England appears to be levelling off, but virus numbers are continuing to increase in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Wales is the only part of the UK seeing a clear fall in infections.

The ONS said it remains too early to say if the UK is seeing a turning point in the level of infections.

It will be a while before any change has an impact on death registrations.

This is because the trend in deaths lags behind the equivalent trend in infections due to the length of time between someone catching the virus and becoming seriously ill, as well as the time it takes for deaths to be registered.

During the previous wave of infections in the summer, deaths peaked at 810 in the week ending July 29.

This was well below the numbers seen during the early waves of the pandemic, when weekly deaths peaked around 10 times this level.

Overall, 11,938 deaths from all causes were registered in England and Wales in the week ending October 21.

This is 16.8% higher than the average number of deaths for this time measured over five years.