TWO years on from the day the UK first went into lockdown, the tragic death toll of the Covid-19 pandemic in the region has been revealed.
As the Marie Curie charity calls for a day of reflection today to remember all those who lost their lives to the virus, figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal more than 10,000 people died with Covid in the region over the last two years.
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The ONS figures show that in the North East there were 8,746 registered Covid-related deaths up to March 12 - and 159,419 across England.
This includes 357 deaths involving Covid-19 in Darlington, 1,889 in County Durham, 213 deaths in Hambleton and 109 in Richmondshire.
In Darlington, deaths outside hospital settings accounted for 46 per cent of the overall toll and the deadliest week of the pandemic came in the seven days to January 1 last year when 16 people lost their lives in the borough.
In County Durham, 1,122 people died with Covid in hospitals and 629 in care homes, while 101 occurred in private homes and 14 in hospices.
The worst week for fatalities in the county was the week up to April 10 2020, when 99 people lost their lives.
Across Middlesbrough, Redcar and Cleveland, Stockton and Hartlepool, a total of 1,862 lost their lives to Covid, with the highest fatality area being Stockton with 616 registered deaths with Covid.
New data from the ONS also shows that Great Britain's avoidable mortality rate in 2020 – the first year of the pandemic – was the highest since 2010.
These are typically deaths among people aged below 75 from causes that are considered avoidable given timely and effective healthcare, or public health interventions.
However, the latest avoidable mortality counts also include deaths due to Covid-19.
Local authority figures, which span a three-year period, show that in County Durham, 4,483 deaths were considered avoidable between 2018 and 2020 – a rate of 291.4 per 100,000 people.
This was up from 271.2 between 2017 and 2019.
In Darlington, 838 deaths were considered avoidable between 2018 and 2020 – a rate of 278.7 per 100,000 people, up from 256.1 between 2017 and 2019.
In recognition of the tragic impact of Covid-19, Marie Curie is commemorating today’s two-year lockdown anniversary as a National Day of Reflection.
A minute's silence will be held at noon to commemorate the day, and people are being encouraged to shine a light at 8pm or display flowers in their window to show support.
Claire Collins, Marie Curie's bereavement coordinator, said coming together today (March 23) is a way to "reflect on our collective losses in a mindful way".
She added: "There are still millions of people living with the deep trauma of losing a loved one during the last two years and we hope everyone finds comfort and embraces the day, whether you have had a close bereavement or not."
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Meanwhile, Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Health Foundation charity, said the reasons why the UK had notably higher excess deaths over the pandemic compared to the rest of Europe needs to be addressed.
She said: "Working age adults in the poorest parts of the country were almost four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than those in the wealthiest areas.
"We owe it to those who lost their lives and their families to understand why, and how to build greater resilience against future threats to our health.
"This means sudden threats like Covid-19 as well as slow burn threats like increasing obesity and mental health conditions."
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