Four Covid deaths in two days at Sheffield hospitals

Two new deaths in the city were announced today, Sunday, March 21, and two yesterday, as part of the daily updates by NHS England.

They were among 71 Covid deaths at hospitals across England announced on Saturday and 35 on Sunday.

Three of the deaths at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust occurred on Friday, March 19, and the fourth happened on Thursday, March 18, but they were all announced in the statistics published this weekend.

These are the 14 areas of Sheffield where Covid cases are rising fastest

There were also two further Covid-19 deaths recorded at Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust this weekend, but none anywhere else in South Yorkshire.

The latest figures show that since the pandemic began, 1,123 people have now died in Sheffield within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus.

The 35 patients whose deaths were announced today were aged between 37 and 98 years old, with all except two, aged 37 and 88, having had known underlying health conditions.

The date of those deaths ranged from May 18 last year to March 20, 2021, with the majority being on or after March 18.

New chart shows rise in Covid cases among Sheffield children since return to school

The number of deaths announced at weekends is usually lower than on week days.

The latest Government statistics show that during the seven days to March 15, 612 new confirmed cases were recorded in Sheffield.

That gives a weekly rate of 104.6 new cases per 100,000 people, which is nearly double the England-wide rate of 58.1 but lower than the rates in Barnsley (183.1), Doncaster (115.7) and Rotherham (141.7).