London — Men were twice as likely to have died of coronavirus than women in March, according to an analysis of deaths registered in England and Wales, according to ONS statistics.

Men had a significantly higher rate of death due to Covid-19, double the rate of women, and were more likely to die from the disease across all affected age groups.

A total of 3,912 deaths involving coronavirus were registered in the month of March. In 86% of these cases it was found to be the underlying cause of death.

At 3,372 deaths, Covid-19 was the third-highest cause of death, accounting for 7% of all fatalities. Only dementia and Alzheimer disease, which accounted for 14% of all deaths, and heart disease at 9% caused more deaths.

The ONS found that the mortality rate in England was significantly higher than in Wales, at 69.7 deaths per 100,000 people compared with 44.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

The figures exclude some deaths involving Covid-19 which occurred in March which have not yet been registered.

According to ONS, there were more deaths involving COVID-19 among males than females up to 3 April. Of the 4,122 deaths registered, 2,523 were men and 1,599 women.

Gender appears to play a key factor in death rate in every age group, although the difference was most apparent in the 65-74 age bracket.