Data analysis reveals a second decline in cardiovascular admissions during COVID-19 pandemic Data analysis is revealing a second sharp drop in the number of people admitted to hospital in England with acute heart failure or a heart attack. The decline began in October, as the numbers of COVID-19 infections began to surge ahead of the second lockdown, which came into force in early November. The findings, from a research group led by the University of Leeds, have been revealed in a letter to the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The decline - 41 percent fewer people attending with heart failure and 34 percent with a heart attack compared to pre-pandemic levels - is approaching the size of that observed during the first wave of the pandemic. The researchers believe the drop in people seeking emergency medical help for cardiovascular emergencies in the first wave of the pandemic may have contributed to more than 2,000 excess deaths in England and Wales.