PEOPLE living in vulnerable communities were more than three times as likely to be diagnosed with coronavirus than others in South Lakeland at one point during the pandemic, official figures suggest.

The British Red Cross charity has developed a Covid-19 Vulnerability Index to identify which English neighbourhoods have been the most vulnerable during the pandemic.

And using the measure, health analytics firm Surgo Ventures compared coronavirus case numbers in the seven neighbourhoods identified as the most vulnerable in South Lakeland, against the seven least vulnerable between March 2020 and July this year.

It found that people in these vulnerable areas were three per cent more likely to be diagnosed with Covid-19 over the period than those living in non-vulnerable communities – though data was only available for 31 of the 71 possible weeks.

This inequality peaked during the seven days to April 23 2020 – when people in vulnerable areas were more than three times as likely to be diagnosed with Covid-19.

However, in the seven days to July 8 – the latest week analysed – there was 33 per cent less likelihood of having Covid-19 in the most vulnerable communities than in the least vulnerable.