NHS confirms 11 coronavirus deaths in five days at Northamptonshire hospitals

NHS officials have confirmed 11 more coronavirus deaths at Northamptonshire hospitals in the last five days.

Six of the deaths all occurred at Northampton General Hospital on Sunday, according to official figures released today — the first after lockdown ended.

Three more Covid-19 patients died at NGH on Friday, Saturday and yesterday (Tuesday).

And two victims were confirmed at Kettering General Hospital, one yesterday and one on Monday.

All 11 had either tested positive for Covid-19 within the previous 28 days or had the virus mentioned on a death certificate.

Today's news has been dominated by announcements of coronavirus vaccine which will start being rolled out next week with Health Secretary telling the House of Commons: "We will be through this by spring."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to hold a press conference later today.

But the sad news in Northamptonshire is that 57 coronavirus patients have now died at the county's two acute NHS Trusts in the last 21 days — 34 at NGH and 23 at Kettering.

Increasing positive tests among older age groups have been a concern for county officials for a while now as those among the over-60s are more vulnerable to the virus and more likely to require hospital treatment.

The number of Covid patients being treated in the two hospitals had risen to 171 by the end of last week but both NHS and Public Health officials expected that number to continue rising, despite the number of positive tests falling overall during lockdown.

KGH chief executive Eileen Doyle told last Friday's weekly Covid-19 press briefing: "We have 15 per cent of our overall bed base taken up with patients with Covid. That is lower than we were anticipating and lower than the peak in April when the number was 247. But, nevertheless, higher than we would like it.

"We are expecting this week and next week to be our busiest weeks."

Covid-19 was already linked to 311 deaths in Northampton and 220 in Kettering between March and August.

A further 168 coronavirus-related deaths among residents in county care homes have also been reported by the Care Quality Commission — including nine last week.