A TOTAL of 1,339 people have died with coronavirus in Dorset in the last year.

And the worst hit area was Branksome Park, Canford Cliffs and Sandbanks where 52 people lost their lives.

Numbers for different neighbourhoods have been revealed in the first annual death figures published by the Office for National Statistics.

The worst hit areas in the county also included Broadstone, Poole Town and Swanage.

In the 12 months from March last year, 832 people in BCP died with Covid-19 as well as 507 in the Dorset Council area.

The peak month for deaths was January when 287 deaths were recorded in BCP and 154 in Dorset.

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Across the South West, 7,027 people lost their lives to the virus.

A total of 41 people died in the Broadstone area with 36 deaths in Poole Town, 46 in Dorchester and Poundbury and 30 in Swanage.

The neighbourhoods with the fewest number of deaths included Broadwey and Littlemoor with one death, Sturminster Marshall and Crichel with two, Springbourne and Queens Park with three, Somerford with four and Hamworthy East and Moordown with five each.

The figures may be affected by the number of care homes in a particular area.

The most deprived areas across England had death rates related to Covid-19 of more than double that of the most affluent parts – 331 per 100,000 compared to 137 over the 12-month period from March last year.

The Institute of Health Equity said those in deprived areas were more likely to be a key or low-paid economy worker, meaning they were less able to work from home and were at greater risk to infection.

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It also said they were more likely to be living in crowded accommodation.

Senior advisor Peter Goldblatt said: "Earlier and stricter lockdown would have saved lives disproportionately in deprived areas.

"However, to do this effectively would have required greater support to key workers and those in the gig-economy.

“This is both in terms of more generous and wider furlough and improved supply of PPE and other safety measures both in the workplace, in the community and while travelling to and from work."

The Health Foundation is examining the impact of the pandemic on health equalities as part of its Covid-19 Impact Inquiry, with the findings to be reported to the Government in the summer.

Senior research fellow, Merhrunisha Suleman, said: "Long term concerted policy effort could have helped to reduce these underlying health inequalities but in the last decade the focus has shifted towards addressing acute need rather than investing in longer term determinants of our health."

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The Department for Health and Social Care highlighted that the higher rate of deaths in the most deprived areas was not just confined to those caused by Covid-19.

The department said the Government was committed to levelling up health outcomes.

A spokesperson said: "Every death from this virus is a tragedy and our condolences go out to everyone who has lost a loved one.

"We know this pandemic has caused financial hardship for many people across the country, and we have acted decisively to make sure nobody is left behind, with extensive support for people on low-pay to help them through this period.

"We have some of the highest vaccine uptake rates in the world but we are going further, recently publishing detailed plans so people from all communities get the right information about vaccine safety so they take up the offer of a jab when it comes, protecting themselves and their loved ones."

The figures are for recorded deaths where Covid-19 was registered as the main cause. The rate of deaths are age-standardised, which means they account for age and population size.

Figures for all areas can be seen at docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q9-zjsE1kqLTo178R6QP3ofJEogDMx9Yt8bPNK9Fo3g/edit#gid=0