Two coronavirus deaths at Croydon hospital as virus spreads across borough

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

Two patients died with coronavirus at Croydon University Hospital last week following a rise in cases in all areas of the borough.

The hospital is not yet seeing the numbers of admissions it saw at the height of the pandemic, when it was one of the worst hit hospitals in the country.

But cases at the hospital are slowly increasing – there are currently 11 people in the hospital being treated for coronavirus, although none of them are in intensive care.

And last week two people died.

On Monday night, director of public health at the council, Rachel Flowers, said: “While Covid-19 is mild for most people, it can be devastating for others, particularly older people, so it is crucial that everyone in Croydon acts now to protect themselves, their friends, family and the wider community.

“At the moment we have 11 people in hospital, fortunately (as of Monday) none are in ITU.

“However, sadly two of our residents passed away from Covid-related conditions.

“Both had underlying health conditions, but unfortunately this is the first time I have been reporting this in Croydon for a while.

“We are relatively low compared to the rest of London, but Croydon has Covid-19 widely in the community.

“Within the last seven days there were positive cases in every part of Croydon.”

The two deaths were reported on Thursday of last week, and bring the total number of coronavirus deaths at the hospital to 303 since the start of the pandemic.

There are currently 75 cases per 100,000 population in Croydon.

Pictured top: Croydon University Hospital