True coronavirus death toll rises past 44,000 in Britain – 10,000 more than the Department of Health’s count – as devastating statistics show more than 11,000 how now died in care homes
- A combination of the most recently available data puts death toll at 44,094
- In comparison Italy, the next worst hit country in Europe, has recorded 32,007
- At least 11,000 people – a quarter of total – died in England & Wales care homes
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
More than 44,000 people have now been killed by COVID-19 in the UK, devastating statistics confirmed today.
And more than 11,000 victims were care home residents in England and Wales.
The weekly Office for National Statistics data has lumped almost 10,000 extra fatalities on top of the Department of Health’s official count of 34,796 yesterday.
The number of people dying with the virus each week continues to fall, the ONS’s research shows, but the ongoing crisis in care homes means there are still more deaths than would be expected in an average year.
Britain’s status as the worst-hit country in Europe is underlined by the figures, with Italy so far recording 32,000 deaths, by comparison.
ONS data, which covers England and Wales, confirmed 39,071 people had died with the coronavirus by May 8.
At least 1,211 further people were known to have died in English hospitals between May 9 and May 17, according to the NHS, taking the England & Wales total to 40,282.
In addition, National Records of Scotland – the equivalent of the ONS north of the border – counted 3,213 deaths by May 10, and Northern Ireland’s Statistics Agency, NISRA, added 599 up to May 13.
This takes the total for the UK to at least 44,094.
Hospital deaths have now tapered off so much that the numbers of people dying in hospitals is lower than average for this time of year, for the first time since the lockdown was introduced.
In care homes, however, there were still more than 2,000 ‘excess deaths’ in the week between May 2 and May 8.
Not all of this will have been caused directly by COVID-19, but they would not have been expected to happen if the pandemic didn’t hit Britain.
This shows that the coronavirus outbreak is now mostly persisting mainly in care homes.
The government said yesterday that there are now fewer than 10,000 people in hospital in England because of the virus.
But 343 care homes have announced outbreaks of COVID-19 in the past week, with four out of every 10 in the country saying they have had cases at some point, the Prime Minister’s spokesman confirmed.
Officials have come under fire for not offering enough support to care home staff and residents at the beginning of the outbreak.
Bosses say homes were not given enough personal protective equipment, were given hospital patients who hadn’t been tested for the virus, and it has now emerged that untested temporary staff may have been inadvertently spreading the illness in the sector’s scramble to fill vacancies left by workers in self-isolation.
A Department of Health and Social Care Spokesperson said today: ‘Supporting the social care sector throughout this pandemic is a priority.
‘We are working around the clock to give the social care sector the equipment and support they need.
‘We are ensuring millions of items of PPE are available to care workers, using our increased testing capacity to test care home residents and staff regardless of symptoms and introducing our new £600m Infection Control Fund to help prevent the spread in care homes.’
