Five coronavirus-related deaths recorded in Cornwall in latest figures

They all occurred in hospital

Author: Daniel Clark, Local Democracy ReporterPublished 30th Dec 2020

There has been another small rise 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) which relate to the week of December 12 to December 18, but registered up to December 26, show that 43 of the 402 deaths registered in the two counties had Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.

The previous week saw 41 of the 366 deaths registered in the two counties had Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.

But a further 11 deaths from the week of December 5-11 have been backdated this week, as well as one death from the week beforehand.

There were 13 deaths of people in East Devon, six from Mid Devon and North Devon, five in Cornwall and Teignbridge, four in Exeter, and two in Torridge and Torbay. There were no deaths from Covid-19 in South Hams, West Devon, Plymouth or the Isles of Scilly registered.

Of the 43 deaths registered in week 51 (Dec 12-18), nine occurred in care homes, 31 in hospitals, one at home, and two in a ‘communal establishment’.

The deaths were:

One care home death and one hospital death of someone from Torbay

Five hospital deaths of people from Cornwall

Six care home deaths, six hospital deaths, and one death in a communal establishment of someone from East Devon

One care home death, two hospital deaths and one death in a communal establishment of someone from Exeter

One death at home and five deaths in hospital from someone in Mid Devon

One care home death and five deaths in hospital from someone in North Devon

Five hospital deaths of people from Teignbridge

Two hospital deaths of people from Torridge

A further 11 deaths from week 50 (Dec 5-11) have been backdated into the figures this week. One in a care home and at home in Cornwall, four hospital deaths of people from East Devon, one hospital death of someone from Exeter, one hospital death of someone from Mid Devon, two hospital deaths of someone from North Devon, and a care home death in Torridge.

A further death of someone at home in North Devon from week 49 (Nov 28-Dec 4) has also been added.

The Isles of Scilly has still yet to see a Covid-19 related death, while South Hams, West Devon and Plymouth have gone one week without a death.

Previous weeks have seen 52, 41, 42, 37, 24, 11, 13, 15, 6, 5, 2, 0, 3, 1, 2, 0, 1, 2, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, 1, 7, 10, 11, 15, 38, 44, 70, 85, 107, 90, 60, 16 and nine deaths registered.

In total, 877 deaths from coronavirus have been registered across Devon and Cornwall, with 515 in hospitals, 293 in care homes, 62 at home, one in a hospice, five 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, 249 have been registered in Cornwall, 135 in Plymouth, 106 in Torbay, 97 in East Devon, 66 in Exeter, 55 in Teignbridge, 50 in North Devon, 37 in Mid Devon, 33 in Torridge, 25 in West Devon, 24 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 18 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.

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