Covid-19 death rate more than double in deprived areas of the UK
With 85.7 deaths per 100,000 persons, the figures show London has by far the highest mortality rate in the country
New figures from the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) stated that people living in the most deprived areas of England have experienced coronavirus rates more than double compared to those living in less deprived areas.
The mortality rate for the most deprived areas of the country for March and early April was 55.1 deaths per 100,000 population – a compared with 25.3 deaths per 100,000 in the least deprived areas, reports The Independent.
With 85.7 deaths per 100,000 persons, the figures show London has by far the highest mortality rate in the country. This was found to be "statistically significantly higher" than any other region – almost double the next highest rate.
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"By mid-April, the region with the highest proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 was London, with the virus being involved in more than 4 in 10 deaths since the start of March," said Nick Stripe, head of health analysis at the ONS.
In contrast, the south west of England saw just over 1 in 10 deaths involving coronavirus, making it the region with the lowest proportion of coronavirus deaths.
The local authorities with the highest age-standardised mortality rates for deaths involving the coronavirus were all London boroughs – with Newham, Brent and Hackney the very worst hit areas. The England-wide figures also showed the virus mortality rate is higher among men in the most deprived areas (76.7 deaths per 100,000 population) than it is for women (39.6 deaths per 100,000 population).
The ONS said that General mortality rates are normally higher in more deprived areas, but so far the coronavirus pandemic appears to be pushing the rates even higher.
In Wales, where levels of deprivation are measured differently, the most deprived fifth areas of the nation had a coronavirus mortality rate of 44.6 deaths per 100,000 population during the same period.
This is almost twice as high as the rate for the least deprived areas (23.2 deaths per 100,000), the ONS said.
The Covid-19 mortality rate for men in the most deprived fifth areas of Wales was 61.9 deaths per 100,000 population, compared with 32.0 for women.
