The United Kingdom has overtaken Italy with the highest official death toll from the coronavirus, Covid-19 in Europe. New figures released on Tuesday, 5th May 2020 show that this is the trend, we ask, what does this mean for London and Inner London Local Councils?
London is a vast geographical area and has a complex demography. The inner London boroughs are more diverse, in general and the outer London boroughs are more suburban.
The incidents of coronavirus in the capital have been measured by the Office for National Statistics.
The ONS reports that overall, London had 85.7 Covid-19 deaths per 100,000 population, almost double the rate of the next worst-affected region which is the West Midlands at 43.2 deaths per 100,000.
Nick Stripe, head of health analysis and life events at the ONS, said: “By mid-April, the region with the highest proportion of deaths involving Covid-19 was London, with the virus being involved in more than 4 in 10 deaths since the start of March.”
The figures for the top ten London Boroughs are:
| Borough | SMR |
| Newham | 144.3 |
| Brent | 141.5 |
| Hackney | 127.4 |
| Tower Hamlets | 123 |
| Haringey | 119 |
| Harrow | 115 |
| Southwark | 108 |
| Lewisham | 106 |
| Lambeth | 104 |
| Ealing | 103 |
If we look even closer within each London borough, we can see the how each Super Output Area is affected. Super Output Areas are a small area statistical geography covering England and Wales. Each area has a similarly sized population and remains stable over time. You can take a look at the ONS interactive map here:
The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is an overall measure of deprivation based on factors such as income, employment, health, education, crime, the living environment and access to housing within an area. [NB There are differences between England & Wales]
Age-standardised mortality rates, all deaths and deaths involving COVID-19, Index of Multiple Deprivation, England, deaths occurring between 1 March and 17 April 2020
Looking at deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19), the rate for the least deprived area was 25.3 deaths per 100,000 population and the rate in the most deprived area was 55.1 deaths per 100,000 population; this is 118% higher than the least deprived area.
In the least deprived area (decile 10), the age-standardised mortality rate for all deaths was 122.1 deaths per 100,000 population. In the most deprived area (decile one), the age-standardised mortality rate for all deaths was 88% higher than that of the least deprived, at 229.2 deaths per 100,000 population.
The bar chart shows how much higher each decile is compared with the least deprived decile for all deaths and deaths involving COVID-19.
For deciles 4 to 9, the percentage increase in age-standardised mortality rate of deaths involving COVID-19 is similar to that of overall deaths.
The rate of deaths involving COVID-19 is more than twice as high in the most deprived areas compared with the least deprived
Local responses will involve contact tracing. This graphic from Public Health England gives a brief description of the process.
Professor Allyson Pollock of Public Health at Newcastle University has been campaigning to raise the profile of a more localised approach, in a letter she has said that a massive increase in testing and tracing should be the next phase, but decades of cuts and reorganisations have whittled away the necessary regional expertise.
In the letter the dynamic nature of the pandemic across the country is aptly described as “not homogenous. It is made up of hundreds, if not thousands, of outbreaks around the country, each at a different stage.”
Her approach champions “classic public health measures for controlling communicable diseases such as contact tracing and testing, case finding, isolation and quarantine. They require local teams on the ground, meticulously tracking cases and contacts to eliminate the reservoirs of infection. This approach is recommended by the WHO at all stages of the epidemic.”
The history of public health is important including the recent changes in the Health & Social Care Act 2012. This abolished local area health bodies, created Public Health England to fulfil the Government’s duty to protect the public from disease and charged local authorities with improving public health.
As public health returned to local government, with a sleight of hand, the Government introduced the current programme of public health funding cuts. In 2019/20, the London’s share of the Public Health Grant had fallen to £630 million, representing a per head funding reduction from £80.75 in 2015 to £68.61 in 2019, a fall of 15% and the biggest regional reduction in England.
“Investing in public health is also hard for governments because the benefits accrue to their successors and there is little to show for spending at the end of the five-year election cycle.”
“Cutting public health funding would be an act of self-mutilation. If controlling spiralling demand is the priority, for goodness sake don’t cut public health.”
Luke Allen
Researcher, Global Health Policy, University of Oxford in the conversation
A localised response requires political will, expertise and attention to detail.
Public Health funding and status needs to be revitalised and restored. It is a matter of life and death.