CITY COVID DEATHS TOP 1,000

Grim milestone reached as 111 patients still being treated at the Royal Stoke

STOKE-ON-TRENT has now seen more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

The Office for National Statistics reported a further four covidrelated deaths in the week ending May 13, bringing the city’s death toll to 1,002.

The ONS figures include all deaths where covid is mentioned on the death certificate, although not necessarily as the underlying cause of death. Although the number of people dying of or with coronavirus in Stoke-ontrent has fallen considerably since hitting a peak in January 2021, deaths have continued.

The ONS says the city last saw a week without any covidrelated deaths a year ago in May 2021, with 211 more deaths recorded since then, averaging about four a week. Newcastle’s pandemic death toll stands at 496, and there have been 370 covid-related deaths in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

Experts now believe Covid-19 is likely to be around for several years, with new variants emerging from time to time.

The success of the vaccine, combined with the lower threat posed by the current Omicron variant, means far fewer people are now getting seriously ill or dying compared to earlier in the pandemic. But it is only in recent weeks that the number of covid-postive patients at the Royal Stoke University Hospital, pictured left, has started falling from very high levels.

As of May 17 there were 111 patients with coronavirus at the University Hospitals of North Midlands, including two people in mechanical ventilation beds.

Jane Moore, director of strategy, planning and performance for Staffordshire’s clinical commissioning groups, said: “In March around one in 16 of the population were infected with covid on the ONS survey data we’re now at around one in 45.

“At the moment around twothirds of those are admitted to hospital for other reasons but have covid. But we’re still seeing around 100 beds occupied at UHNM.

“At the height nearly 25 per cent of the beds within UHNM were occupied by people with covid. That helps us understand why the system was under so much pressure in February and March.”