More people are now dying of Covid-19 in the Liverpool City Region than at the peak of the second wave, new figures have shown.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 150 people died of Covid-19 in the city region during the week up to January 15.
This was almost double the 82 deaths recorded in the previous week and more than the weekly death toll seen at the height of the second wave.
The latest update means that 232 people in the city region have died of Covid-19 already this year following the rapid surge in infections after Christmas. The rise in deaths mean Covid-19 accounts for nearly a third of all deaths in the city region so far this year and around half of all deaths in hospitals.
Although cases are now declining in the region, the death toll is expected to rise higher still with more recent data suggesting the city region is now seeing more than 200 Covid deaths in a week for the first time since the end of April 2020.
The ONS figures include all cases where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, meaning it was either the primary cause of death or a contributing factor.
Although deaths rose in all six of the city region’s boroughs, the biggest increases were recorded in Wirral and Knowsley.
Wirral saw 44 deaths during the week up to January 15, more than double the 19 recorded in the previous week and the highest death toll of any borough in the city region.
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Knowsley, meanwhile, has been yet again one of the hardest hit boroughs in the country in terms of Covid infections and saw deaths almost treble from six to 17 during the week.
Liverpool itself recorded 39 deaths, up from 20, while Sefton saw 28, up from 18.
St Helens and Halton both saw relatively small increases, from 11 to 13 and eight to nine respectively.
The figures bring the city region’s total death toll for the pandemic to 3,199 - more than one in every 500 people in the region.
