Covid survival rates at hospital trusts in a narrow strip of Essex and Havering are among the worst in the country, new figures have suggested.

Of the five trusts with the highest Covid death rates, three trusts looking after Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Broomfield in Chelmsford, Basildon, Southend and Queens in Romford are in a narrow band in Essex and east London.

Mid and South Essex hospital trust, which looks after Broomfield, Basildon and Southend hospitals, have had 1,313 Covid-related deaths during a total of more than 35,000 Covid bed days.

That relates to a death rate of 37.27 per 1,000 Covid bed days.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Trust in the north west of England has had the worst outcomes with 44.45 deaths per 1,000 bed days

The figures make stark reading for health professionals struggling to tackle the disease in parts of the country most affected by Covid.

Ivan Henderson, Labour group leader at Essex County Council, said: “If this was my area further down to the Tendring area of Essex, you could understand because we have a quite a high proportion of elderly people here.

“It’s a strange one.

“But it’s heartbreaking that so many people in those areas have lost loved ones during the pandemic.”

The figures relate to cases between March 25, 2020 and January 2021.

More than four in ten hospital beds in Essex are now occupied by Covid-19 patients.

At 4pm on January 5, there were 1,038 beds occupied by Covid patients in hospitals in Essex – 42.2 per cent of the 2,461 beds available.

It means that overall, there are now only 191 unoccupied general and acute beds available across the whole of the area, for a population of more than one million people.

The figures, from NHS England, show the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust has the highest proportion of beds filled with Covid-positive patients in Essex, with 194 occupied beds out of a total of 384 – 50.5 per cent.

Nationally, more than a quarter of hospital beds were in use for Covid patients as of January 5 at 4pm – 21,693 out of 84,948.

Mid and south Essex NHS trust, PAH, BHR hospital trust, Public Health England and Essex County Council have been asked for comment.