Seven people with coronavirus have died in Cornwall over the past week
Figures from the Office for National Statistic say two occurred in hospital while five passed away in care homes
A further seven people with coronavirus have died in Cornwall in the last week, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Of those, two occurred in hospital while five passed away in care homes across the Duchy.
On the whole, there has been a slight fall in the number of deaths registered across Devon and Cornwall where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate in the last week.
The figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), relate to the week of November 28 to December 4, but registered up to December 5, show that 38 of the 346 deaths registered in the two counties had Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.
The previous week saw 40 of the 362 deaths registered in the two counties had Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.
A further three deaths from the week of November 21-27 were backdated into the statistics this week as well.
While down on the previous week, the figures for the most recent week remain the second-highest since the beginning of May.
The deaths will probably have resulted from an infection contracted before the introduction to the second national lockdown, given the average time lag between infection and death.
There were seven deaths of people from Cornwall, six from Plymouth and East Devon, five from Torbay and Mid Devon, two from Mid Devon, South Hams and Teignbridge, and one from Exeter, Torridge and West Devon.
Of the 38 deaths registered in week 49 (Nov 28-Dec 4), 11 occurred in care homes, two at home and 25 in hospitals.
The Isles of Scilly has still yet to see a COVID-19 related death.
In total, 779 deaths from coronavirus have been registered across Devon and Cornwall, with 449 in hospitals, 257 in care homes, 59 at home, one in a hospice, two in a communal establishment and one ‘elsewhere’.
Other communal establishments, as defined by the ONS, include defence bases, educational premises, prisons (including probation/bail hostel, prisons, detention centres and other detention), hotels, hostels, travel and temporary accommodation (including B&Bs, temporary shelter for homeless and holiday parks), and religious premises.
The ONS define elsewhere as all places not covered by the other definitions, such as deaths on a motorway, at the beach, climbing a mountain, walking down the street, at the cinema, at a football match, while out shopping or in someone else’s home.
Of the deaths, 238 have been registered in Cornwall, 131 in Plymouth, 102 in Torbay, 67 in East Devon, 53 in Exeter, 49 in Teignbridge, 37 in North Devon, 28 in Torridge, 27 in Mid Devon, 23 in West Devon, 22 in the South Hams and none on the Isles of Scilly.
The figures show in which local authority the deceased’s usual place of residence was. For instance, if someone may have died in Derriford Hospital but lived in West Devon, while the death may have been registered in Plymouth, their death would be recorded in the mortality statistics for the ONS figures against West Devon.
Deaths that have occurred in hospitals following a positive coronavirus test since December 4 will be recorded in next week’s figures, as long as the deceased lived within Devon and Cornwall, the death has been registered, and COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate.