ALMOST a third of all deaths in the borough since March 22 have been linked to coronavirus.

Latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday morning showed that 266 deaths registered in Bolton had featured covid-19 on the death certificate.

The deaths, which occurred up to May 15 but were registered before May 23, included 163 in hospital, 87 in care homes, and seven in hospice.

Seven people who died at home have had their deaths linked to covid-19, with two deaths “elsewhere” linked to the virus.

The latest statistics show a breakdown of the 722 deaths registered in the eight weeks between March 22 and May 15 by location.

In that time, coronavirus has contributed to a quarter of all deaths in hospice care, two in every five deaths in the borough’s care homes, and over half of deaths in hospital.

A third of deaths “elsewhere”, and less than five per cent of deaths at home, have also been linked to the virus.

Bolton fares ever so slightly worse than the national picture, where three in every ten deaths have been linked to the virus.

Across the UK, there have been almost 62,000 more deaths than expected during the coronavirus outbreak.

Deaths involving covid-19 continue to fall, with latest statistics showing that the UK has seen the lowest weekly number of virus deaths since lockdown began, with deaths involving coronavirus falling by almost a third from the week before.

The ONS said there were 56,308 excess deaths in England and Wales between March 21 and May 22, compared with the average number of deaths for that period over five years.

In Bolton, the number of registered deaths soared in April, doubling the five year average for the month.

The borough, which usually sees 222 deaths each April, reported 463 deaths in the same period, an excess of 241.

Not all of these excess deaths can be contributed to coronavirus, with under 200 deaths in the borough linked to covid-19 during April.

Nationally, coronavirus was only held responsible for just over three quarters of excess deaths, 49,715 of the 56,308.

It is not yet clear what has caused the rest of the excess deaths reported by the ONS.