BASINGSTOKE and Deane has registered more coronavirus-related deaths than an entire country of 25 million people.

Latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Tuesday show that the borough has registered more deaths linked to the virus than the whole of Australia.

A total of 106 coronavirus-related deaths have been recorded in Basingstoke and Deane as of May 29. Australia, by comparison, has registered 102.

That’s despite the borough having a population that equates to less than one per cent of the commonwealth nation.

The area has also registered more deaths than a host of European nations with populations that run into the millions, including Croatia, Slovakia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Lithuania and Estonia.

Reports on Twitter surfaced over the weekend suggesting Basingstoke’s death toll had already surpassed that of Australia.

However, the figures confirming this were not officially released by ONS until this morning.

The new numbers show that five new deaths were registered in the borough between May 22 and May 29. That’s more than were recorded in the previous two weeks combined, and the biggest week-to-week rise since the week ending May 8.

Four of the new deaths occurred in care homes and one in a hospital.

Of the 106 deaths that have now been registered since the start of the year, 75 have occurred in hospitals (equating to 71 per cent) and 25 in a care home setting (24 per cent). Two were recorded at home, three in hospices and one in an ‘other communal setting’.

Australia’s low death toll has been attributed to a number of factors.

In April, the Daily Mail reported that Australia ‘lead the world in testing for coronavirus’ with the highest rate of testing per capita, equating to more than one per cent of the population being tested.

Limits on social gatherings were imposed early on, initially forbidding meetings of more than 500 people, then 10 and eventually just two, while borders were closed to non-nationals as early as March, with only a handful of exceptions to the rule.

Anyone, including nationals, arriving in the country from overseas was also required to self-isolate for two weeks. The UK has required all arrivals to do the same as of Monday, June 8.

Other factors such as population density would likely have had an on the spread of the virus, with Australia’s population spread over a far larger area than in the UK.

Speaking to the Independent in April, Australian epidemiologist Professor John Mathews said: “People tend to live in larger houses, spaced further apart than the stacked apartments you commonly find in Europe.”