Covid impact ‘hits North hardest’

THE IMPACT of Covid-19 is hitting the North the hardest, with its effects stifling economic growth and helping to widen the North-South health divide, senior NHS and university leaders warn the Government today.

New research by the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) shows deprived urban areas in northern England are being hit with higher rates of Covid-19 deaths, higher death rates from all causes and bigger increases in unemployment.

The research, seen by The Yorkshire

Post, is a collaboration with the NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) in the North East and North Cumbria and Greater Manchester.

Across Yorkshire, results revealed, Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Sheffield and Rotherham are all above the English average in all three areas.

Wakefield recorded the highest Covid mortality rate, with 42.1

Hannah Davies, of the Northern Health Science Alliance. deaths per 100,000, the second highest was in Rotherham (37.7 per 100,000), followed by Bradford (34.8 per 100,000).

Greater Manchester was hit with a 51.4 death rate, with Salford worst affected in the region (92.6), compared with a 26.8 death rate in the South East.

In a challenge to Boris Johnson’s levelling-up agenda, the senior NHS and university leaders argue that this impact of the virus and lack of action will drive health inequalities which are holding back the northern economy and help widen the NorthSouth health divide for future generations.

Hannah Davies, the Health Inequalities lead for the NHSA, said: “The impact of the disease on areas already suffering from greater health inequalities will leave a long, devastating impact across the North of England, and particularly in urban areas if action is not taken by government now.

“As the Government looks to its levelling up agenda it must pay close attention to where it can support the health and wealth of the region and support local authorities, the NHS, and metro mayors to make decisions based on the needs of their population.”

The team used data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to map figures for the last six weeks on Covid-19 deaths, deaths from all causes, and unemployment figures, to build up a picture of how the virus is affecting different parts of England.

They then mapped across the main train lines in England to see how different urban and rural centres performed compared to the national average.

Main centres in the North including Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Durham are also above the average in all three areas whereas Slough is the only place outside of the North to be red in all areas.

Professor Clare Bambra, from Newcastle University, said the maps show the stark regional inequalities in the impacts of the pandemic across the country.

She said: “The Northern hotspots should be prioritised as Covid testing roles out and new NHS investment and public health investment should target those areas most affected”.

Professor Bambra added to avoid a parallel mental health pandemic, economic and social measures to ‘level’ up the regions need to be implemented “as soon as possible.”

Covid-19 has highlighted the precariousness of the North’s economy.