No Covid weekly deaths in New Forest for first time since October

THERE were no coronavirus deaths reported in the New Forest for the first time since October last year, according to the latest weekly update.

The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) report released on Wednesday showed the same result for the BCP Council area, which includes Christchurch.

The last time the conurbation had no Covid-19 deaths reported was in September 2020.

The death toll in the New Forest since the start of the pandemic stands at 346. In the BCP area it is 979.

The provisional figures from the ONS related to instances where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate up to 23rd April but were registered up to 1st May.

Previously reported numbers can change after being updated by the ONS.

The number of new weekly Covid-19 infections in the New Forest fell even further this week, according to separate government figures.

On Tuesday, there were just 18 new cases in the district over the latest seven-day period, compared with 27 last week. The rate per 100,000 people was 10.

Across the UK there were 15,127 new weekly cases, giving a rate of 22.6 per 100,000 people.

In the BCP conurbation the number of new weekly cases fell from 61 to 59. The rate per 100,000 people was 14.9.

The infection figures are for the numbers of people with at least one lab-confirmed positive Covid-19 test result in the preceding seven days.