Deaths in Eastbourne fell to pre-covid levels in July

Official data from the Office for National Statistics show 105 deaths were recorded in Eastbourne in July 2020 – only one more than in July 2019.

The town had seen a jump in fatalities in the previous month, with six more deaths recorded compared to June 2019.

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This can be compared to the height of the coronavirus lockdown in April, when there were 143 deaths in Eastbourne – up from 106 the year before.

Across East Sussex’s five council areas, death counts increased by 5 per cent in July, climbing from 502 to 528.

The figures still mean there were 17 (2 per cent) more deaths in Eastbourne in the year to the end of July than at the same point last year.

Across England and Wales, there were 40,731 deaths recorded in July, lower than the 42,192 seen a year earlier.

That was the first time deaths had dropped below last year’s level since the start of the pandemic in March.

However, the British Medical Association said it was difficult to draw conclusions from the drop in deaths in July.

Its chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said it was ‘imperative’ the Government give the NHS the resources it needs to deal with a ‘triple whammy of the non-Covid backlog, the ongoing risk of a second spike, and winter pressure’.

A government spokesperson said it had made ‘significant strides’ in stopping the spread of coronavirus.

They said, “This includes delivering 3.3 billion items of PPE to the front line with 31 billion items ordered, NHS Test and Trace testing hundreds of thousands of people every day, and almost 360,000 people contacted who may have been unwittingly spreading the virus.”

The Prime Minister has announced a further £3 billion of winter funding to relieve winter pressure on the NHS, the spokesperson said.

Data reporting by Harriet Clugston.

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