Revealed: The areas with the highest coronavirus death rates last month

Ashford in Kent had the highest coronavirus death rate in England and Wales in June, new statistics have revealed.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures released on Friday show Ashford had a COVID-19 mortality rate of 36.5 deaths per 100,000 people in June. That was broadly unchanged from 36.7 in May.

Ashford was followed by:

• Tameside 23.9 (down from 38.1 in May)

• Dover 21.7 (down from 25.5)

• Folkestone and Hythe 21.7 (down from 31.9)

• Nuneaton and Bedworth 19.9 (down from 38.3)

Hull, which had the highest death rate in May at 51.3, experienced a large decrease in June as it went down to 18.0.

The ONS figures also show that the local neighbourhood or district with the highest number of all deaths involving COVID-19 is still the area of Crabtree and Fir Vale in Sheffield, which has seen a total of 67 deaths.

Meanwhile, north-west England had the highest coronavirus mortality rate of England’s regions during June, though this also involved a sharp decrease from May.

There were an estimated 9.0 deaths involving COVID-19 per 100,000 people in the region in June, down from 27.5 the previous month.

Watch: What is the latest guidance on masks?

It comes as Boris Johnson told overweight people to get fit this summer.

The prime minister, while saying he is reluctant to “nanny” the public, said people need to shed pounds to help protect themselves from the virus in case there is a fresh outbreak in the winter.

Meanwhile, rank-and-file police officers are urging shops to refuse entry to people not wearing face coverings after some high street chains said they will not penalise customers who fail to do so.

As of Friday, police can hand out £100 fines to people in shops, shopping centres, banks, takeaways, post offices, sandwich shops and supermarkets in England who flout the new rules.

But John Apter, the national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said forces “do not have the resources” to widely enforce the law that came into force on Friday.

He said: “It is our members who are expected to police what is a new way of living and I would urge retail outlets to play their part in making the rules crystal clear – if you are not wearing a face covering then you are not coming in.”

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