Coronavirus: West Sussex sees first hospital death in a week

The total has now reached 133 at the county's main NHS trust

Dr McMahon expressed his condolences to people who lost loved ones during the pandemic
Published 19th Nov 2020

The number of coronavirus deaths at West Sussex's main hospital trust has now reached 133 after the first death there in a week.

A patient who tested positive for the virus and was being cared for by the Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust died on Monday (November 16th), according to NHS England data.

The trust runs St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, Worthing Hospital and Southlands Hospital in Shoreham.

The victims were among 4,024 deaths recorded across the South East.

Daily death counts are revised each day, with each case backdated to the actual date of death.

This means some of the deaths that were first recorded in the latest period may actually have taken place days earlier.

NHS England guidance states: "Confirmation of Covid-19 diagnosis, death notification and reporting in central figures can take up to several days and the hospitals providing the data are under significant operational pressure."

In total, 462 people in West Sussex have died within 28 days of contracting the virus in all settings, including care homes, private homes and in hospices.

Mid Sussex has seen the most with 116 deaths, followed by Horsham with 93, Crawley, with 75, Worthing with 61, Arun with 45, Chichester with 44, and Adur with 28.

Meanwhile, the latest data seems to suggest that the number of newly confirmed cases of Covid-19 in West Sussex is falling, after reaching a peak last week.

There were 111 reported in the 24 hours to 9am on Wednesday, according to Public Health England, compared with 197 over the same period exactly a week before.

As of Wednesday morning, 7,961 people had tested positive for coronavirus in West Sussex since the start of the pandemic, including 1,063 in the last seven days.

The rate of infections is 921.4 per 100,000 people, below the national average for England (2,183.7) and the South East (1,208.8).

Here's how many people have tested positive for Covid-19 in West Sussex in the last week (figures in brackets show the rate per 100,000 people).

Mid Sussex - 226 (149.6)

Crawley - 182 (161.9)

Horsham - 177 (123.1)

Chichester - 175 (144.5)

Arun - 167 (103.9)

Worthing - 97 (87.7)

Adur - 78 (70.5)

Here's how many people have tested positive for Covid-19 in West Sussex since the start of the pandemic (figures in brackets show the rate per 100,000 people).

Mid Sussex - 1,561 (1,033.6)

Horsham - 1,356 (943)

Crawley - 1,319 (1,173.4)

Arun - 1,157 (719.7)

Chichester - 1,068 (881.7)

Worthing - 992 (897.2)

Adur - 508 (790)