NO DISTRICT across the county has suffered more coronavirus-related deaths in a care home setting than Test Valley.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that despite no new care home deaths being registered in the borough for the week ending June 12, Test Valley has still recorded the joint-highest number of coronavirus-related deaths in a care home setting across the county.

A total of 64 people from the borough have now died in care homes due to coronavirus since the start of the year, the same number as in the New Forest.

The New Forest, however, is home to almost twice as many people over the age of 70 than Test Valley, according to ONS population estimates.

It also has more than three times as many care homes, according to figures from Public Health England.

However, an ONS spokesperson has confirmed with the Advertiser that the location at which coronavirus-related care home deaths are recorded ‘refers to the place of main residence of the deceased’ rather than the place where the death occurred, which may or may not be different.

Boroughs with a similar number of over 70s as Test Valley, including Fareham and Basingstoke and Deane, have registered far fewer coronavirus-related deaths in care homes - 35 in Fareham and 32 in Basingstoke and Deane.

And likewise, those with a similar number of care homes have registered far fewer coronavirus-related care home deaths, including Gosport (25 deaths) and Rushmoor (36).

 

 

In terms of overall coronavirus-related deaths to occur in all settings, Test Valley has now registered 111.

That figure is higher in only three other local authorities in Hampshire – Basingstoke and Deane (114), the New Forest (124) and Southampton (160).

Of the 111 Test Valley deaths, 44 occurred in hospital, one at a person’s home, two in an “other communal establishment” and the remaining 64 in care homes.

The week ending June 12 did however mark the fifth successive week that a decline in the number of deaths was observed across the borough. Just one person from Test Valley died, with their death occurring in a hospital.