THREE Covid-19 deaths have been reported in the Winchester district today.

The virus is retreating across the Winchester district but there is a lag with a steady number of people dying.

The number of deaths from the pandemic has risen to 130, or 104.1 per 100,000 people.

Across the Hampshire County Council area 15 deaths were reported today, according to the Office for National Statistics. These are when deaths are reported not when they happened. It brings to 1,484 in the HCC area the death toll since last March, a rate of 107.3 per 100,000 people.

These fatalities would have been people contracting the virus several weeks ago when the number of cases was rising fast. Even as the number of new cases declines it will be some time before deaths and hospital admissions keeps pace.

Across the county council area today 753 cases were reported bringing the total to 48,116 for a rate of 3,480 per 100,000. Some 6,270 have been reported in the seven days to January 13, down 1,360 or 17.8 per cent, for a rolling number of 453, which is still above the UK average, but falling.

Winchester and East Hampshire have been joined by New Forest and Test Valley as the districts in Hampshire not coloured either purple or black on the official Government Covid map. It means the infection rate is now below 400 per 100,000.

The number of cases reported in Winchester district in the last seven days to today, Monday, is again lower than in the previous week. Today there were 55 cases, taking to 417 the number for the last seven days. The previous week had 514 cases. The map below shows the Government figures for the seven days to last Wednesday, January 13.

The number of cases in the Winchester district since the start of the pandemic is now 3,919, an infection rate of 3,138 per 100,000, well below the UK average of 5,316.

Across the Winchester district only one place has an infection rate higher than the UK average and that is Denmead and Southwick where there has been 70 new cases in the seven days to January 13, down 12 week on week, a drop of 14.6 per cent, with a rolling number of 682.5, down more than 100 on two days previously. This are the same numbers as yesterday but the Government website indicates they are correct.

Things continue to cool in Oliver’s Battery and Hursley. In the seven days to January 13, 23 cases were reported, down five on the previous seven days, a decrease of 18 per cent. The rolling number per 100,000 people has fallen to 281.3 but up on recent days.

Another area that had seen sharp rises was South Wonston, Sutton Scotney and Micheldever. But in the seven days to January 13, there have been 15 cases, down 13, down 47 per cent, for a rolling rate of 255.2, down sharply.

One of the area with the lowest rates in the county is Chilbolton, Clatford and Barton Stacey. Today no data is shown as there were fewer than three cases. The previous day there were only three cases, down 18, or 85.7 per cent for a rolling number of just 57.

The Winchester ‘district’ covers more than just the ‘city’ and covers a chunk of Hampshire from Micheldever to Denmead, and Crawley to Ropley.

Deaths reported in Southampton are now 195, up four, or 77.2 per 100,000. In Portsmouth the figure is 211, up four, for 98.2 per 100,000.

A further 19 Covid-19 deaths have been reported by NHS England in Hampshire today. The Hampshire Hospitals Trust death toll is now 308, up six. The trust runs the RHCH in Winchester. At Southampton Hospital the figure is 311, up seven. Portsmouth Hospitals Trust recorded a further six to take its total to 593. Southern Health Trust is now 32 deaths, no change, with the figure for the Solent NHS Trust staying at four.

Across the county’s NHS, the five trusts mentioned above, some 1,248 people have died since March, within 28 days of a positive test.

The most recent figures from the NHS, released last Monday, show there are currently 84 Covid patients at the RHCH compared to 57 last week and 126 at Basingstoke hospital compared to 105 previously. There are five patients at Andover War Memorial Hospital.

The R number, the reproduction rate has again dropped. For the south-east it is now 1.0 to 1.2, meaning ten people with Covid will infect between 9 and 13 people.

Three local schools have reported Covid cases in the last 10 days. They are St Bede primary, Kings' secondary and Bishop's Waltham junior.

Other Covid news:

Vaccine to be rolled out to over-70s

Read more here