Northamptonshire hospitals see 16 coronavirus deaths in eight days

NHS England today confirmed three more coronavirus deaths at Northamptonshire hospitals.

Information included in Thursday's daily bulletin showed two patients died at Northampton General Hospital on Sunday and Wednesday this week.

Another death was registered at Kettering General Hospital on Tuesday (November 10).

No information is given by hospitals following coronavirus deaths. But national figures showed Tuesday's fatality at Kettering was one of 151 across England — eight of whom were under the age of 60.

FOLLOW Friday's weekly Covid-19 press briefing LIVE on our Chronicle & Echo and Northants Telegraph websites from 3pmToday's sad news takes the total to 39 deaths among coronavirus patients at the county's two acute NHS Trusts — 26 at Northampton and 13 at Kettering — since early October.

Of those, 16 have occurred in the last eight days — although analysts say a four or five-day lag in collecting information can mean more deaths may have occurred on those days but are still to be counted on the official numbers.

All those who died had either tested positive for Covid-19 within the previous 28 days or had the virus mentioned on a death certificate.

Northamptonshire has seen record rises in the number of positive Covid-19 tests during the last week with labs confirming 200-plus new cases on each of the last eight days up to Tuesday.

And county Director of Public Health Lucy Wightman today admitted she fears the number of new cases — and deaths — will continue to rise despite a national lockdown which started last Thursday.

Mrs Wightman said: "At the moment, it is a very stark picture locally and there is likely to be a lag before we see the impact of additional restrictions.".

"The number of Covid-19 cases continues to put pressure on our NHS services.

The number of Covid-positive patients currently being treated in the two hospitals had risen to over 100 by Monday.

Covid-19 was already linked to 311 deaths in Northampton and 220 in Kettering between March and August.

A further 157 coronavirus-related deaths in county care homes have also been notified by the Care Quality Commission. The latest, on November 2, was revealed in figures released by the Office for National Statistics today.