Places with high levels of deprivation have double the Covid-19 mortality rates of more affluent areas, shocking new figures reveal.
In England, deprived areas suffered 139.6 deaths per 100,000 people between March and June - compared to 63.4 in wealthier places.
There was a similar discrepancy in Wales, with 119.1 deaths per 100,000 in poorer areas compared to 63.5 in affluent places.
The gap between mortality death rates is widening, data released today found.
Parts of London have suffered the highest Covid-19 mortality rate since the outbreak of the pandemic - with Middlesbrough and Salford close behind.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today reveal that between March and the end of June, nine of the 10 worst-hit local authorities in England and Wales were in the capital.
Brent, in North London, suffered a rate of 216.6 deaths per 100,000, followed by Newham with 201.6.
Middlesbrough had a rate of 178 per 100,000 people.
Last month the Covid-19 mortality rate in more deprived areas was 137.5% higher than wealthier places.
An ONS report said: "This was a bigger proportional difference in rates than observed for the four-month period overall."
Sarah Caul, Head of Mortality Analysis at ONS, said: “Following the peak recorded in April, in June we have seen a large decrease in the proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 across all English regions and Wales.
"London experienced the largest decrease over the period from having more than 1 in 2 deaths in April which involved Covid-19 to only about 1 in 20 deaths in June that were related to the coronavirus.
"The South West region continued to have the lowest proportion of Covid-19 deaths in June with about 1 in 30 deaths involving the coronavirus, while the North West had the highest where 1 in 8 deaths in June were Covid-19 related.”
There were 50,574 deaths in England and Wales between 1 March and 30 June 2020 and registered by 11 July 2020 that involved Covid-19.
This represented 22.9% of all deaths occurring over this period.
Across the two countries, 220,636 deaths people died from all causes.
There were 88.0 deaths involving Covid-19 per 100,000 people in England and Wales over the period March to June 2020.
This was 88.7 per 100,000 people in England compared with 73.7 per 100,000 people in Wales.
