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Alcohol-related deaths spiked to their highest level since records began last year amid the first national lockdown, official figures show.
An Office for National Statistics report published today found alcohol was a contributing factor in 5,460 fatalities in England and Wales between January and September, a rate of 12.8 per 100,000.
This was a 17 per cent rise on the same period in 2019, when there were 3,732 deaths — 11 per 100,000. It was also the highest number since the ONS started tallying alcohol-related deaths in 2001.
Professor Karol Sikora, a medicine expert at the University of Buckingham, told MailOnline it 'made sense' the rise in alcohol deaths would coincide with Britain's draconian lockdown.