Hastings had second-lowest Covid-19 death rate in England and Wales, figures reveal

Hastings had the second-lowest rate of Covid-19 deaths in England and Wales in the six weeks to the middle of April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

By Stephen Wynn-Davies

Published 1st May 2020, 17:01 BST

The data, released on Friday (May 1), includes all Covid-19 deaths in major towns and cities in the two countries which happened between March 1 and April 17.

In that time, Hastings reported six deaths, according to ONS.

ONS equated a death rate of 6.3 per every 100,000 people – the second-lowest rate behind Norwich where the rate was 4.9 deaths per 100,000 people during the same time period.

Worthing, in West Sussex, had the ninth lowest death rate – 12.1 per 100,000 people – where 18 had died between March 1 and April 17.

The news comes after NHS England confirmed 64 people had died in hospitals operated by the East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust by 5pm on April 30.

Public Health England data says 570 people in East Sussex have tested positive for Covid-19.