The south west has gone a week without a single covid-related death in its hospitals.

The region has not recorded a covid-related hospital death since 17 July, but the data is only considered robust until 24 July.

The south west has been the least affected by the coronavirus pandemic, recording just 4.5 per cent of covid-related deaths of the 30,560 in English hospitals.

Five of the other six regions are recording deaths which are at or below two per cent of the seven-day running total they saw during the peak of the pandemic between 8-13 April.

The exception is the south east, which has the highest number of weekly covid-related deaths at 25 - 4 per cent of its covid peak. This is almost entirely due to the continuing relatively high death-rate at East Kent Hospitals University Trust.

The eastern region, which has seen weekly deaths fall from 32 to seven between 15 and 24 July is the closest to joining the south west on zero deaths.

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