A Kent hospital trust has recorded more than 1,000 Covid-related deaths since the pandemic began.

The grim milestone has been reached at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, which comprises sites including the Kent and Canterbury Hospital, the QEQM in Margate, and the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford.

It is one of just eight trusts in the UK to have seen this number of coronavirus-related deaths, after daily figures released by NHS England show that at least 1,004 people have now died in its hospitals within 28 days of catching Covid-19.

The figure is now likely to be higher, as it takes a few days to report deaths.

EKHUFT was also hit hard by Covid-19 during the summer.

During the second peak of coronavirus, east Kent recorded the most deaths in England for several weeks and at one point accounted for 25% of all fatalities linked to coronavirus in the country.

The situation saw hospital chiefs accused of "gross mismanagement" as 58% of the trust’s coronavirus patients “probably” or “definitely” caught the virus in hospital - compared to a national average at the time of 22%.

EKHUFT has now recorded more than twice as many Covid deaths than most other trusts in Kent.

Medway NHS Foundation Trust has recorded 632 deaths, while Dartford and Gravesham has recorded 459, and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells 416.

Across Kent and Medway, 3,420 people have died with coronavirus to date.

In more positive news KentOnline's interactive map shows coronavirus infection rates continue to drop steeply across the county, as the UK's third lockdown continues.

Medway has dropped out of the worst category for rate of infection for the first time in months and the weekly percentage drop for many parts of the county is now over 20%.

It will be several days until decreasing infections have any impact on the number of those in hospital or passing away.

There are currently 397 patients at East Kent run hospitals with 29 on ventilators.

That is more than any other trust in the county. The total figure for patients is 1,247 patients at the county's seven hospitals, with 78 on ventilators.

Both numbers are slowly dropping. In the first week of 2021 those figures were 1,334 and 103.

During this wave of Covid-19 the number of patients in hospital is more than double the first wave peak but the number on ventilators has not reached the same level, suggesting more testing, more effective care or both.

The UK last week passed its own grim milestone of 100,000 Covid deaths since the start of the pandemic.

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