LONDON — Thousands of people with suspected coronavirus died in U.K. care homes in just one week, new figures have revealed.
A provisional count of care home deaths in England linked to COVID-19 in the week ending April 25 stood at 2,178, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 4,343, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The figure is expected to rise. ONS statistician Nick Stripe told the BBC that once the provisional figures are added to confirmed ONS figures the total would probably be more like 5,500.
Care home deaths are not included in the U.K.s daily figures, which only cover deaths in hospitals. The ONS gathers cause of death data from all U.K. death certificates, including where COVID-19 is suspected but the patient hadnt been tested.
The ONS data suggests the impact of the pandemic on U.K. care homes may be significantly worse than previously thought.
In the week ending April 17, the total number of deaths in care homes in England and Wales — both COVID and non-COVID related — stood at 7,316. That marks an increase of 2,389 on the previous week, almost double the week before that, and almost triple the week before that.
In total, there were 8,758 deaths linked to the coronavirus in England and Wales in the week ending April 17, a figure that includes deaths in hospitals, care homes and elsewhere and amounts to 39 percent of all deaths.
The total number of deaths from any cause in that week (22,351) is 11,854 more than the average for that week over the past five years, and a record since these stats started being compiled in 1993.
Included in tRead More – Source
LONDON — Thousands of people with suspected coronavirus died in U.K. care homes in just one week, new figures have revealed.
A provisional count of care home deaths in England linked to COVID-19 in the week ending April 25 stood at 2,178, bringing the total since the start of the pandemic to 4,343, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The figure is expected to rise. ONS statistician Nick Stripe told the BBC that once the provisional figures are added to confirmed ONS figures the total would probably be more like 5,500.
Care home deaths are not included in the U.K.s daily figures, which only cover deaths in hospitals. The ONS gathers cause of death data from all U.K. death certificates, including where COVID-19 is suspected but the patient hadnt been tested.
The ONS data suggests the impact of the pandemic on U.K. care homes may be significantly worse than previously thought.
In the week ending April 17, the total number of deaths in care homes in England and Wales — both COVID and non-COVID related — stood at 7,316. That marks an increase of 2,389 on the previous week, almost double the week before that, and almost triple the week before that.
In total, there were 8,758 deaths linked to the coronavirus in England and Wales in the week ending April 17, a figure that includes deaths in hospitals, care homes and elsewhere and amounts to 39 percent of all deaths.
The total number of deaths from any cause in that week (22,351) is 11,854 more than the average for that week over the past five years, and a record since these stats started being compiled in 1993.
Included in tRead More – Source
