Covid-19: City of London's death toll two years on

More than a dozen people in City of London have died from coronavirus since the pandemic reached the UK around two years ago.

Marie Curie is commemorating March 23 – two years after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the first UK-wide lockdown – as the National Day of Reflection.

The charity is urging people to come together to remember the lives of those lost to Covid-19, and support the millions of people across the UK who are grieving – as figures reveal the extent of the deadly toll in City of London.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in City of London 14 deaths involving Covid-19 had been provisionally registered up to March 12.

Of these, 11 were in hospitals and one in a care home and two in private homes.

It means deaths outside hospital settings accounted for 21% of the overall toll.

The figures include deaths that occurred up to March 4 which were registered up to eight days later.

ONS data is based on where Covid-19 is mentioned anywhere on the death certificate.

There were three weeks over this period when two people lost their lives in City of London.

The deaths in the area were among 22,774 registered across London up to March 12, and 159,419 across England.

Claire Collins, Marie Curie's bereavement coordinator, said coming together on March 23 is a way to "reflect on our collective losses in a mindful way".

She added: "There are still millions of people living with the deep trauma of losing a loved one during the last two years and we hope everyone finds comfort and embraces the day, whether you have had a close bereavement or not."

A minute's silence will be held at midday on Wednesday, March 23 to commemorate the day, and people are being encouraged to shine a light at 8pm or display flowers in their window to show support.

The Health Foundation said there have been notably higher excess deaths in the UK over the pandemic compared to the rest of Europe, with some communities particularly hard hit.

Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the charity, said: "Working age adults in the poorest parts of the country were almost four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than those in the wealthiest areas.

"We owe it to those who lost their lives and their families to understand why, and how to build greater resilience against future threats to our health.

"This means sudden threats like Covid-19 as well as slow burn threats like increasing obesity and mental health conditions."