Death rate at Blackpool Victoria Hospital doubles in under three months as local health chiefs admit they don't know for sure yet if the new variant is here

The Covid-related death toll at Blackpool Victoria Hospital has doubled in under three months.
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Some 250 people had died after testing positive for the coronavirus at the start of October, but that figure topped 500 this week.

It comes following concerns about the number of over-60s catching Covid in the community, and after a faster-spreading variant was said to be "everywhere" after originating in the south in September.

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A spokesman for the hospital said: "Blackpool has seen some of the most sustained and highest rates of community infection across the country and Covid-19 deaths have risen in line with those rates across the region.

Blackpool Victoria Hospital, in Whinney Heys RoadBlackpool Victoria Hospital, in Whinney Heys Road
Blackpool Victoria Hospital, in Whinney Heys Road

"The trust has rigorous infection prevention control measures in place to ensure the safety of patients and staff and we would encourage the public to help support this action by adhering to local restrictions and following national guidance to wash their hands regularly, wear a face covering, ensure they are maintaining social distancing measures.”

The Vic, in Whinney Heys Road, recorded its first Covid-related fatality in late March following the death of Lytham man Paul Ramsden, 80, and experienced its worst day on April 12 when 11 people died.

The hospital's second worst day was November 21 when 10 died, official NHS figures showed, while 51 people died in just seven days from November 26 to December 3.

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While not every victim has been publicly identified, they include comedian and actor Bobby Ball, 76, hospital domestic services worker Eleuterio 'Boy' Gibela, 68, resort school workers Michael Haigh, 60, and Cath Strangwood, 57, and Mr Haigh's father, Neville Haigh, 88, a civil engineer behind some of Blackpool's biggest projects.

Blackpool and Lancashire remain in Tier Three of the Government's local restrictions, which means 'very high alert' and is more relaxed than the stricter Tier Four.

But tougher curbs could be brought in as cases of the new mutant strain appear "everywhere", the Government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned.

Infection rates across the county continue to surge in every council area except Chorley, while nine in 10 areas nationally have seen increases.

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The Tier Four lockdown was announced for London and parts of southern and eastern England at the weekend after Tier Three measures failed to control the spread of the more infectious variant.

Sir Patrick said a lockdown may be needed in wider areas of England, particularly as Christmas mixing - now allowed only on the 25th and not at all in Tier Four areas - may result in an increased spread of cases.

His stark warning came as countries around the world shut their borders to travellers from the UK because of the new strain, and as Prime Minister Boris Johnson refused to guarantee that schools will reopen after Christmas, saying "we want, if we possibly can, to get schools back in a staggered way at the beginning of January" but "the commonsensical thing to do is follow the path of the epidemic."

Health chiefs in Blackpool admitted they did not know this morning whether the new strain has made its way to the Fylde coast because they were "awaiting further information from Public Health England".

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But Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, Lancashire’s director of public health, said he believes the variant is behind the "significant shift upwards" in the infection rate, although genomic analysis has yet to confirm his fears.

He said: "It is happening across all the age groups.

“What we have seen is an increase, since we have come out of national lockdown into Tier Three, after a few days we’ve started seeing a shift, and in some districts a significant shift, upwards in many age groups.”

Health bosses also urged anybody who has travelled to the Fylde coast from a Tier 4 area to "protect their families by getting a test so as not to put their loved ones at risk".

The Vic's medical director Dr Jim Gardner, who gives a coronavirus update every Wednesday, said last week that 129 Covid-positive patients were in hospital, up from 121 the week before.

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Some 108 were on general wards at the Vic, 15 were at the Clifton Hospital in St Annes, and five were fighting for their lives in intensive care.

Nineteen new deaths were announced, with Dr Gardner saying: "Far from going away, this issue is remaining a big problem for us and we can see from the community data that, actually, compared to last week, there has been a slight increase."

He added: "We also know that, within that increase, there's a very high proportion of people who are over the age of 60.

"As age is an independent risk factor for being poorly with Covid, that it an uncomfortable position to find ourselves in."

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Dr Gardner said: "I think the message has to be that everybody has to be really careful through the Christmas period, and as individuals and family groups we have to make some really thoughtful decisions about how we manage that to try and restrict transmission between generations."

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