First coronavirus hospital death in a week in West Sussex

The first coronavirus death in a week has been recorded at a hospital in West Sussex, the latest figures show.

NHS England figures show 127 people had died in hospital at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as of 5pm on Tuesday (October 13th).

That was an increase of one compared to the 126 that had been recorded at the same point on Monday, and the first death in seven days.

The victims were among 3,634 deaths recorded across the South East.

Of 25 trusts within the region, Western Sussex Hospitals trust has the 15th-highest death toll.

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."

Only deaths that occur in hospitals where the patient has tested positive for Covid-19 are recorded, with deaths in the community excluded, such as those in care homes.

Meanwhile, the most recent figures from Public Health England have put the total number of confirmed cases in the county since the start of the pandemic at 4,173, an increase of 80 in the last 24 hours.

That means the equivalent of 483 people in every 100,000 have tested positive for the virus, well below the England average of 988.7 and the South East average of 582.3.

Cumulative case counts include patients who are currently unwell, have recovered and those that have died.

The total number of cases in each part of the county (figures in brackets show the rate per 100,000 people):

Mid Sussex: 858 (568.1)

Horsham: 793 (551.5)

Crawley: 634 (564)

Worthing: 609 (550.8)

Arun: 528 (328.4)

Chichester: 460 (379.8)

Adur: 291 (452.6)

• coronavirus
• death
• hospital
• west sussex