The number of people in Wolverhampton dying with Covid-19 doubled last week, as the city enters what might be the peak of the 'third wave' of the pandemic.
The City of Wolverhampton Council’s registry office recorded a total of 65 deaths with Covid-19 in the seven days to Friday 15 January – up from 24 deaths the week before.
The numbers are lower than the peak of the first wave, where 145 deaths were recorded in one 14-day period, but are expected to rise further in the coming days following a dramatic rise in infections and hospitalisations over the last few weeks.
Nationally, the Government reported an average of 1,610 daily deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test in the seven days to 19 January, while deaths involving the virus accounted for 34.1% of all deaths in England and Wales in the week ending Friday 8 January, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Wellbeing, said: "These figures are heart-breaking and just go to show how important it is that we carry on doing everything we can to stop the spread of Covid-19.
"The roll out of the vaccine is going well and the number of new infections has started to fall as a result of the lockdown measures introduced in early January, both of which are really welcome news.
"But tragically people are still dying each and every day with Covid-19 in Wolverhampton – and we are by no means past the worst yet.
"We are not publicising these figures to scare people. But we want to make it crystal clear that Covid-19 is still a real danger to us all.
“Every time someone chooses not to follow the rules – by not wearing a face covering where necessary, by not practicing social distancing or by going out when they don’t need to – they are putting themselves and others at risk.
"So please remember to follow the rules and stay home as much as you can so that you can protect yourselves, your loved ones and the NHS."
Latest figures show there were 861 cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 people in Wolverhampton over the seven days to 17 January. That means 2,264 people in the city tested positive for the virus in that seven day period – though the true number of new cases will likely be considerably higher.
The latest information and guidance around coronavirus is available at www.gov.uk/coronavirus and on the council’s own coronavirus pages at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/coronavirus. Further details of the lockdown restrictions currently in place, and the answers to frequently asked questions, are available at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/covidalert.
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