The Covid-19 death rate in Coventry and Warwickshire has slowed to a fraction of its peak, new data shows.
NHS England has revealed a total of 56 people have died in our hospitals in the month of May to date.
By comparison, the region was seeing a death rate of up to 25 a day at the peak of the virus in April.
Our hospital trusts - the George Eliot in Nuneaton, South Warwickshire and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, have recorded a total of 12 deaths in the past week among people who have contracted coronavirus.
That takes the region's total death toll in hospitals to 448.
Sadly, the overall number will be much higher when it reflects the number who have died in care homes in our region.
| Trust | Total Covid-19 deaths |
| George Eliot | 118 |
| South Warwickshire | 102 |
| Coventry and Warks | 228 |
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has been speaking for the Government this morning and told BBC Breakfast that schools in England may not take a "uniform" approach to returning on June 1.
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He said: "I don't think any of us want to put either children or our dedicated teaching staff in any danger at all, and the question of being safe is clearly paramount.
"So we're all working towards June 1 and planning for that return, but I accept the point that there may well be issues from employers that need to be addressed which might not mean we'll see a uniform approach on June 1."
Mr Buckland added: "It really depends on the views of employers. A lot of councils are direct employers of teaching staff, their views are clearly very important.
"I'm not going to sit here and pretend that suddenly on June 1 everything will be uniform, I don't know, it's my hope.
"But these conversations need to continue and we need to listen very carefully to the concerns of employers and staff."
