No new Black Country Covid-19 hospital deaths with only two in wider region
No new coronavirus deaths were reported in Black Country hospitals today.
Only two deaths were recorded at hospitals across Staffordshire and Birmingham.
Meanwhile the UK death toll, which includes deaths in and out of hospitals, increased by 173 to 42,461.
New figures show one death at University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs Stafford's County Hospital and Royal Stoke University Hospital.
The total number of deaths now stands at 332.
There was also a death at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust where the total is now 943.
The trust manages Queen Elizabeth, Good Hope, Heartlands and Solihull hospitals.
The announcement means 2,476 people have now died in hospitals across the Black Country, Birmingham and Staffordshire after contracting Covid-19.
An additional 582 coronavirus deaths have been confirmed in the region's care homes.
It has also been one week since a death was reported at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, which runs New Cross and Cannock Chase hospitals.
One death was also reported in Worcestershire.
No new hospital deaths were reported at the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, where the total remains at 370.
There were also no new deaths in Dudley, where 260 people have died in hospital, Wolverhampton, where 282 people have died, or Walsall, where 220 people have lost their lives.
In England, a further 46 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 28,221
The patients were aged between 12 and 97 years old. Two patients, aged 65 and 85, had no known underlying health conditions.
It comes as the coronavirus alert level has been lowered from four to three following advice from the UK's chief medical officers.
The downgrading – recommended by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) – means transmission of coronavirus is no longer considered to be “high or rising exponentially”.
Meanwhile a study has revealed that South Asian people are at highest risk of dying from Covid-19 after being admitted to UK hospitals, even when factors such as obesity are taken into account, the biggest study of its kind has found.
The West Midlands has the second largest population of South Asians in the UK, with census data showing that only London has more people from the region living there.
