Three residents of Verwood and Three Legged Cross have died from coronavirus, official data from the Office of National Statistics reveals.

The government agency has published a breakdown for every town and district in England and Wales. Their figures relate to information that doctors have entered on death certificates as either the underlying cause of death or a contributory factor. The data covers the period from 1st March to the 17th of April.

In the local area, statistics also reveal that five residents of Ringwood (Ringwood South plus Ringwood North & Ibsley) have died, plus one in the West Moors area and one in the St Leonards area.

There is one confirmed death in the Fordingbridge, Rockbourne & Woodgreen area, and two in Ferndown Town.

The ONS data shows that the southwest of England has the lowest proportion of COVID-19 deaths recorded in England and Wales. 13% of death certificates in our area make reference to the virus and our region’s COVID-19 death rate is 16.4 deaths per 100,000 people.

In Greater London, 42% of deaths have been coronavirus-related. There have been 85.7 deaths per 100,000 people from COVID-19 in the capital.

To protect confidentiality, a small number of deaths have been reallocated between neighbouring areas on the national map.

See our dedicated coronavirus in Verwood page for more details on what’s happening locally.