SHOCKING new figures obtained by The Cumberland News have shown the deadly impact and scale of coronavirus in Cumbria.

In the 73 days since the first case was diagnosed in Carlisle, Covid-19 has been implicated in an estimated 464 deaths in hospitals and care homes, statistics showed.

But new data shows Cumbria’s non-coronavirus death rate since early March has soared, with daily fatalities surging from a previous average figure of 14 to 22, adding 160 “excess” deaths to the county total.

They are among more than 50,000 people counted as being among ‘excess deaths’ nationally since the public health crisis began.

Cumbria’s most senior public health official fears many of those who died - most of them elderly - may have been so fearful of the virus that they refused to seek the medical help they needed.

According to the latest government figures, the number of patients killed by the virus while they were being cared for by Cumbrian NHS trusts rose yesterday to 297.

They included 140 coronavirus patients who were being cared for at either The Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle or West Cumberland Hospital in Whitehaven.

Another 157 coronavirus patients being treated by University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust - which runs Furness General Hospital and a hospital in Lancaster - have also died.

Meanwhile, while the hospital death rate has slowed, the county continues to battle the pandemic in Cumbria’s care homes. Cumbria has seen an estimated 167 care home fatalities - 78 of them confirmed and 89 suspected.

There are currently outbreaks in 27 homes. However, the number of excess deaths - meaning those above the average for the period since the pandemic began - is now 160.

“The excess deaths are those over and above what we would normally expect, but not explicitly including Covid-19 deaths,” said Colin Cox, Cumbria’s Director of Public Health.

“Some of those excess deaths may be Covid-19 but they’re just not recorded as such. There is also the potential for other things.

“There’s a potential that some of these excess deaths may be related to people not seeking the help they needed from health services when perhaps they would have done that otherwise.

“If somebody is having a heart attack, and they choose not to go to hospital, or to call an ambulance, of course it can be a matter of life or death.”

There may also be an impact if people have failed to take up routine cancer screening because they fear catching Covid-19 fear, said Mr Cox.

Another relevant issue, he said, was the isolation that many people were now facing as a result of the lockdown restrictions - particularly those people whose underlying health conditions mean they have had to remain “shielded” and kept indoors.

“When people are isolated, and scared, it’s going to have a health impact,” said Mr Cox. “In some cases, that could result in excess deaths. There’s some evidence suggesting loneliness and isolation is as bad for you as smoking.” The Office for National Statistics says since the pandemic began the UK has seen just under 51,000 excess deaths.

Cumbria’s multi-agency Local Resilience Forum is expanding Covid-19 testing in care homes, the scene of some of the worst outbreaks, to boost the testing being rolled out by the Government.

Some of Cumbria’s worst Covid-19 outbreaks have been in care homes in Carlisle. Excess deaths are some scientists as the best ultimate measure of the impact of coronavirus.

David Spiegelhalter, a Cambridge University professor, has called for further investigation into why so many more people were dying at home in recent weeks without coronavirus written on their death certificates.

“Many are people who would have lived longer had they got to a hospital,” he said.