The NHS hospitals that have suffered the most Covid-19 deaths since the pandemic began

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One major NHS trust has suffered more than 2,500 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began, according to shocking data that lay bare the toll the disease has had on hospitals.

NHS England figures show University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, which runs two hospitals, has recorded 2,578 fatalities since last March. It is followed by Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (2,353). 

The trusts, which are two of the largest in England, account for around 4 per cent of all Covid deaths in the UK. They are the only health providers to endure more than 2,000 victims.

The Birmingham trust serves 2.2million patients each year and includes Birmingham Heartlands Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. The Essex trust covers approximately 1.2million people and is made up of Southend University Hospital, Broomfield Hospital and Basildon University Hospital.  

A further 20 trusts recorded over 1,000 deaths, including Barts Health and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals in London. 

Separate figures released today showed most of England recorded at least one day with no Covid deaths over the past week – the first time this has happened in six months. Five out of nine regions were free of fatalities for a minimum 24 hours while London averaged 1.5 deaths daily over the week.

Official figures show there were no virus deaths in the South East, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber or the East of England on Wednesday. The South West has reported no daily deaths three times in the past week.

University Hospitals of Derby and Burton has also suffered a four-figure death toll.

Death counts in the remaining 190 trusts varied, with 102 recording between 100 and 1,000 fatalities. Another 30 recorded single-digit deaths. 

Over 17,000 deaths took place at the 10 worst-hit trusts, which include Pennine Acute Hospitals and Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts.

Of the 126,000 coronavirus deaths that have been recorded across the UK since the pandemic began, 85,000 have been in hospitals in England. 

The highest number of Covid fatalities recorded during the first peak last spring was 1,073 deaths on April 8. 

This number was topped on January 19 — the darkest day of the second wave, when deaths hit 1,359.

Deaths in the UK have been falling since the end of January, thanks to vaccines and tough lockdown restrictions.

It comes after analysis by the Daily Mail found most of England recorded at least one day with no coronavirus deaths over the past week – the first time this has happened in six months. 

Deaths across the country fell to a five-month low this week, with a daily average below 80 – compared to more than 1,000 for most of January.

Figures show Yorkshire and the Humber recorded no daily deaths on Wednesday – the first time since September 8, over 28 weeks ago.

On the same day, the South East, which was once ravaged by the deadly Kent variant, recorded zero deaths for the first time since September 22. 

They were joined by the West Midlands and the East of England with no fatalities. 

There were three days in the last week in which the South West recorded no deaths, with 11 registered in total.

Meanwhile, London – the epicentre of the second wave of Covid – had just one death on both Tuesday and Wednesday, with 11 across the whole week. 

Separate figures yesterday showed coronavirus outbreaks grew in a third of local authorities in England last week — but the rise was only driven by a huge testing blitz of schoolchildren because of classrooms being reopened. 

Fifty-six of 149 council areas saw an uptick in cases over the week to March 21, according to the latest surveillance report from Public Health England.

But when the figures were broken down by age, they showed infections only spiked week-on-week among five to nine-year-olds, by more than half, and 10 to 19-year-olds, by a quarter.

Cases dropped in all other age groups, and are now at their lowest levels since August in the over-70s — who are most at risk from the virus. Everyone in the group has been offered at least one dose of the Covid vaccine.

Under Boris Johnson’s ultra-cautious lockdown-easing plan, schools were reopened to all pupils on March 8. But children and teachers have been asked to swab themselves for the virus twice a week, prompting an inevitable uptick in cases.

Experts say this doubling in the number of tests done daily – to around 1.1million every 24 hours – is behind the rise in infection rates, adding that had these tests not been carried out many of these infections would have gone unreported.

Dr Yvonne Doyle, PHE’s medical director, warned cases appeared to have ‘plateaued’ in most parts of the country, and were rising in younger age groups. She added: ‘We must not drop our guard now after so much effort by so many. We need only look to Europe to see how easy it is for things to take a turn for the worse.’