ONE YEAR ON: Tragic toll Covid-19 has taken on Wigan revealed by data

Wigan Council’s most recent weekly coronavirus tracker revealed 976 death certificates had been registered mentioning the novel coronavirus as of March 5.

Behind this number are the stories of loss, grief and sadness for the relatives and friends of all those who have died.

And the JPIMedia Data Unit has analysed Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures to look at the pandemic’s impact on the borough’s neighbourhoods.

These statistics divide the borough into 40 MSOAs, areas of relatively-similar population which are used for statistical purposes.

The area hardest hit by the pandemic has been Standish North, where 31 per cent of all deaths registered between March 2020 and February 2021 mentioned Covid-19.

In Pemberton North it was 30 per cent, while 29 per cent of all deaths in the 12-month period in Ashton-in-Makerfield North, Lowton Common, New Springs and Abram and Bickershaw involved Covid-109 in some way.

By contrast, in Tyldesley South just seven per cent of deaths between March 2020 and February 2021 involved Covid-19.

Tyldesley South also had the lowest absolute number of deaths with Covid, with seven.

There were most deaths with the novel coronavirus in Leigh East and Higher Folds, with 46.

It also had the highest all-cause mortality figure between last March and February, with 164.

The death figures in that part of the borough have been previously highlighted during the pandemic, with public health experts saying the number of care homes and nursing facilities in the area could be a factor.

Wigan Council’s tracker said 81 per cent of the borough’s deaths with Covid happened in hospital, with 13 per cent in care homes and four per cent at home.

Those figures run up to March 5.

The full ONS figures for the borough’s MSOAs, showing deaths with Covid-19 followed by the percentage of deaths with the coronavirus involved, are: Standish North: 16, 31%; Pemberton North: 23, 30%; Ashton-in-Makerfield North: 30, 29%; Lowton Common: 22, 29%; New Springs: 26, 29%; Abram & Bickershaw: 17, 29%; Hindley West: 40, 28%; Leigh East & Higher Folds: 46, 28%; Pemberton South: 38, 28%; Winstanley: 23, 26%; Ashton-in-Makerfield East: 25, 26%; Ince-in-Makerfield: 25,26%; Standish South: 24, 24%; Leigh South East: 22, 24%; Leigh North:26, 24%; Aspull & Red Rock:19, 24%; Worsley Mesnes & Hawkley: 16, 24%; Leigh South:17, 24%; Leigh West: 25, 24%; Wigan South: 31, 23%; Beech Hill: 15, 23%; Hindley Green: 22, 23%; Atherton North: 18, 22%; Wigan Central: 22,22%; Hindley East: 138, 30, 22%; Shevington: 21, 22%; Wigan Marylebone & Bottling Wood:22, 21%; Lowton: 17, 21%; Atherton South East & Tyldesley West:18, 21%; Ashton-in-Makerfield West: 22, 19%; Wigan East: 20, 19%; Tyldesley North: 19,18%; Laithwaite & Marsh Green: 18, 18%; Orrell & Longshaw:24, 16%; Leigh Central: 10, 15%; Astley, Blackmoor & Mosley Common: 13, 15%; Golborne: 14, 15%; Atherton South West: 16, 15%; Platt Bridge & Spring View: 17, 14%; Tyldesley South: 7,13%.

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