Hundreds more people than in an average year died in Islington during the first two waves of the coronavirus pandemic, and new figures released have shown which wards were the worst affected.

Office for National Statistics data has revealed that there were two periods during the pandemic in England and Wales when weekly and monthly registration of deaths from all causes were consistently higher than the five-year average – also known as "excess deaths".

The weekly data shows the first period occurred from March to June 2020 and the second from September 2020 to March 2021.

There were 193 excess deaths in the borough between March 2020 to July 2020, indicating an increase of 44.7 per cent.

April 2020 was the worst-hit month, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed, with 167 excess deaths across the borough – with 10 extra deaths in Tollington, 11 in Archway West, 17 in Finsbury Park West, 11 in Tufnell Park East, 10 in Highbury, 12 in Caledonian Road, and 16 in Angel.

This is the first time that the ONS has published monthly death figures during the pandemic at a neighbourhood level.

There were then 118 excess deaths between September 2020 and March 2021 – an increase of 17.7pc during the pandemic's second wave.

Excess deaths are considered a better measure of the overall impact of Covid-19, rather than merely looking at mortality directly linked to the virus, as the statistics capture deaths that may have been indirectly caused by the crisis.

Excess deaths is simply a measure of mortality however – and not all excess deaths are necessarily due to Covid-19.

Stamford Hill North, in the neighbouring borough of Hackney, was the hardest hit neighbourhood in the country during the spring and summer pandemic wave from March to June 2020.