18 new coronavirus deaths in four days at West Sussex hospitals
The latest figures have revealed a huge number recently
A further 18 patients with coronavirus have died in hospitals in West Sussex in the space of just four days.
The patients in the care of the Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at the time of their deaths.
Two took place on Thursday (January 7th), six on Friday (8th) and a further five on both Saturday and Sunday (9thand 10th),
It brings the total number of deaths recorded at the trust since the start of the pandemic to 219.
48 of those took place since the start of last week - compared to just 10 in the week before.
The trust runs St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, Worthing Hospital and Southlands Hospital in Shoreham.
In addition, a further two deaths were recorded at the Sussex Community NHS Trust, which runs community health services across West Sussex, Brighton and Hove and part of East Sussex.
A total of 29 people have died there within 28 days of receiving a positive test result.
The victims were among 6,782 deaths recorded across the South East.
Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.
This means some of the deaths that were first recorded in the latest period may actually have taken place days earlier.
NHS England guidance states:
"Confirmation of Covid-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take up to several days and the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure."
In total, 712 deaths have been recorded in West Sussex where people had a positive coronavirus test result for Covid-19 and died within 28 days of the first positive test in all settings, including care homes, private homes and in hospices.
Mid Sussex has seen the most with 164 deaths, followed by Horsham with 126, Arun with 117, Crawley with 101, Chichester with 89, Worthing with 82 and Adur with 33.
As of 9am on Tuesday morning, 27,153 people had tested positive for coronavirus in West Sussex since the start of the pandemic, including 5,732 in the last seven days.
The rate of infection is 3,142.8 per 100,000 people, below the national average for England (4,880.5) and the South East (4,211.3).
Here's how many people have tested positive for Covid-19 in West Sussex in the last week (figures in brackets show the rate per 100,000 people).
Crawley - 1,286 (1,144)
Arun - 1,017 (632.6)
Mid Sussex - 825 (546.3)
Worthing - 813 (735.3)
Horsham - 775 (539)
Chichester - 581 (479.7)
Adur - 435 (676.5)
Here's how many people have tested positive for Covid-19 in West Sussex since the start of the pandemic (figures in brackets show the rate per 100,000 people).
Crawley - 5,001 (4,448.9)
Mid Sussex - 4,986 (3,301.5)
Arun - 4894 (3,044.3)
Horsham - 3,965 (2,757.5)
Worthing - 3,291 (2,976.4)
Chichester - 3,088 (2,549.3)
Adur - 1,928 (2,998.4)