Spike in coronavirus deaths as more die so far this month than in previous three months combined at Sunderland and South Tyneside's Hospital Trust
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The region has been placed on tier 2 of the Government’s three-tier restriction scheme, with speculation that a continued rise in case numbers would make a move to tier 3 inevitable.
Local council leaders have urged the Government not to go down that route but the number of new cases has climbed rapidly during October – and with it, the number of new deaths.
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Hide AdSouth Tyneside and Sunderland, North Tees and Hartlepool and Northumbria hospital trusts have all seen more virus-related fatalities in the first three weeks of October than in the previous three months combined.
And those rises have been matched by a sharp spike in the number of new cases in each local authority area, with each seeing the total number of cases jump by more than half so far this month .
The South Tyneside and Sunderland hospital trust has confirmed 29 new coronavirus-related deaths in October up to Monday 19, four more than in the four months from June to September.
The trust went the entirety of July and August without a singe virus-related fatality.
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Hide AdThe number of new cases in the two local authority areas covered by the trust has also skyrocketed during October.
Sunderland has seen the number of cases confirmed in the city rise from 3,276 on September 30, to 5,549 on Monday, October 19, a rise of 2,373.
And the number of cases in South Tyneside has jumped by 1,084, from 1,887 to 2,971 in the same period.
Across England 438 coronavirus deaths were registered in the past week, an increase of a third in the space of seven days, official figures show.
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Hide AdThis is a rise of 36% (117 deaths) from the previous week – which saw the highest number of deaths involving Covid-19 since early July.
Scientists have said it is ‘not a surprise’ to see such a stark jump in figures following the rate cases have grown in recent weeks.
Deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust Sarah Scobie said: “Sadly, we can only expect this trend to continue over the coming weeks and months as more cases translate into hospitalisations.”