THE TOP areas with the most recorded Covid deaths have been revealed.
A year after the first lockdown came into force, some parts of England have seen one in 250 people die of the coronavirus.
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Castle Point in Essex has had the most deaths relative to its population size up to March 30, the Government coronavirus dashboard shows.
Some 399.4 people per 100,000 residents have died in a year.
Second is Tendring, also in Essex, where 386.9 people per 100,000 died.
Both have recorded roughly one death in every 250 people.
Third is Folkestone and Hythe, Kent, recording 373.5 deaths per 100,000 in total, the same as one in 268 people.
East Staffordshire, Rother, Southend-on-Sea, Fylde, Havering, Barnsley and Wyre are also in the top ten places with the most cumulative fatalities, recording at least one death for every 318 people.
On the other end of the scale, the low populated Orkney Islands, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Moray, Shetland Islands and the Highlands, Scotland, have seen the fewest deaths relative to population size.
Orkeny Islands has recorded the fewest deaths of 13.5 per 100,000 – the same as one in 7,500 people.
Wales is not included in this dataset, which is deaths by local authority area.
The figures shine a light on the devastation the Kent variant has caused in the South East, where it first started spreading.
Scientists raised the alarm about the Kent strain in December but it was running rife since September.
Cases grew across the Kent, Essex and London despite the November lockdown, and later it was revealed the Kent variant is highly transmissible.
Evidence shows it is also up to twice as deadly, but studies have estimated a range of 30 to 100 per cent.
It then spread across the UK, becoming the most dominant strain, and the rest of the world, yesterday being blamed for France’s national lockdown.
DEATHS COMING DOWN – BUT WE CAN’T RELAX YET
The success of more UK-wide lockdowns and the vaccine rollout has led to a drastic drop in deaths.
Daily fatalities have plunged by more than half in a week, with 43 declared yesterday against the 98 the week prior.
It brings the UK total to a sobering 126,713.
But separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 150,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.
The Government’s counting only includes deaths within 28 days of a positive Covid test, but some patients die months after they are diagnosed or without a positive test to prove they had it.
There were also another 4,052 lab-confirmed cases in the UK reported yesterday.
But public health officials have told Brits to hold their nerve, as some places are still seeing an increase in case numbers.
Of the 315 local areas in England, 41 per cent have seen a rise in case rates in the past seven days.
The figure has been rising steadily for weeks, from lows of three per cent at the start of February.
Dr Yvonne Doyle, Medical Director of Public Health England, said today: “It is encouraging that the death rate is falling.
"But there are still as many people in hospital now as there were at the start of the second wave, and tens of thousands of us are getting infected every week and could become seriously ill.
"As restrictions lift and the weather improves, we cannot drop our guard. We’re not out of the woods quite yet.
“Until all of us are protected it remains essential to follow the steps we know stop the virus from spreading.
"Case numbers are still high in certain places and looking forward they are certainly not predictable. So your actions are still saving lives.”
An ease of restrictions on Monday has led to chaotic scenes across England, with beaches and parks packed with people.
The Chief Medical Officer for England warned the lifting of restrictions would lead to an “inevitable” rise in cases which would hit the younger generations.
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