Overdose deaths in San Francisco hit 200 in three months: ‘A crying shame’

A person walks through San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. The city saw a spike in drug overdose deaths, which may have been linked to the closure of a drug outreach center. Photograph: Jeff Chiu/AP

Drug-related deaths surged by 41% in San Francisco in the first quarter of this year – with one person dying of an accidental overdose every 10 hours, as the fentanyl crisis continues to ravage the US west coast.

San Francisco saw 200 people die of overdoses in the past three months compared with 142 in the same months a year ago, according to reports by the city’s medical examiner.