Norwich recorded the lowest coronavirus death rate in towns and cities in England and Wales, according to newly released figures.
But the county’s director of public health has urged caution over the figures, saying it would be some time before the full impact would be realised.
The Office for National Statistics has analysed details of the 20,283 deaths that occurred in England and Wales between March 1 and April 17, and which were registered by April 18, where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate as the underlying cause of death or a contributory factor.
In the data the ONS has focussed on geographical areas and the level of deprivation using age-standardised mortality rates to allow comparisons between populations that may contain different proportions of people of different ages.
When adjusting for size and age structure of the population, there were 36.2 deaths involving COVID-19 per 100,000 people in England and Wales.
Norfolk’s seven local authorities fell under the national average, with Norwich recording 3 deaths equating to 2.5 deaths per 100,000 people in the period.
Dr Louis Smith said: “While these figures are encouraging we have to be mindful they may not tell the whole story: not only do they only cover the period to the 17th of April, when Norfolk was one of the last areas of the country to be impacted by Covid 19, they are also very small numbers that we can’t reliably use to look at the situation in Norfolk as a whole. While these figures are welcome, the fact is we won’t have a full picture of Covid 19’s impact in our county for some time.”
During the period between March 1 and April 17, 119 deaths were recorded in Norfolk. At the same point 178 deaths had been announced at the county’s three main hospitals.
In the county, 119 deaths were recorded between March 1 and April 17.
Read more: One in four care home deaths related to coronavirus in NorfolkKing’s Lynn and West Norfolk borough reported 46 deaths between March 1 and April 17, equating to 23 deaths per 100,000 people - the highest in the county.
The remaining rate of deaths per 100,000 in the county’s local authorities were as followed:
North Norfolk, 9.8
South Norfolk, 8.5
Broadland, 10.3
Breckland 11.7
Great Yarmouth, 18.1
The ONS has also published an interactive map where you can search deaths relating to COVID-19 by postcode.
The map does not show the actual location of deaths but gives an indication of those that occurred between March 1 and April 17, registered by April 18.
Read more: Coronavirus testing stations coming to four townsTo protect confidentiality, a small number of deaths have been reallocated between neighbouring areas.
Nationally the ONS figures found those living in the most deprived areas of England have experienced coronavirus mortality rates more than double those living in the least deprived areas.
Of those confirmed, more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths happening in the top 10pc of the country’s most deprived areas, the majority in men.
Nick Stripe, head of health Analysis at the ONS, said; “People living in more deprived areas have experienced COVID-19 mortality rates more than double those living in less deprived areas. General mortality rates are normally higher in more deprived areas, but so far COVID-19 appears to be taking them higher still.”
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