A BOROUGH'S death toll during the last 12 months of the pandemic was hundreds higher than previous years.

That’s according to Public Health England data that compares the number of deaths registered during the last year with how many were predicted based on previous mortality rates.

The area saw 1,653 deaths from any cause registered between March 21 last year – just days before the UK’s first lockdown – and March 19 this year.

That was 384 more than the 1,269 predicted based on the previous five years.

It means there were 30.3 per cent more deaths than expected – higher than the England average of 20 per cent.

So-called “excess deaths” are considered a better measure of the overall impact of Covid-19 than simply looking at mortality directly linked to the virus, as they capture deaths that may have been indirectly caused by the crisis, and are not affected by changes in the level of testing.

Over the same period, there were 456 deaths in Blackburn with Darwen with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.

Nationally, more than 100,000 excess deaths were recorded, while there were 129,000 with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certificate.

Dave Finch, senior fellow at charity the Health Foundation, said the two figures differed because Covid-19 is mentioned on death certificates even if it is not the leading cause of death.

He added: “However, what is clear is the huge scale of the impact of Covid-19 on the number of deaths and that the impact has tended to be greater in more deprived areas, reflecting the pattern of existing health inequalities.”

The 13 places to see the biggest increases in registered deaths compared to those expected were all in London.

Newham saw the largest rise, at 53.7 per cent, while at the other end of the spectrum, registered deaths were 2.7% higher than expected in Devon.