Government to finally publish real coronavirus death toll – as all victims will be counted, not just hospital patients

THE government will finally publish the real coronavirus death toll for the UK and all victims will be included, not just hospital deaths. 

The figures will include deaths in care homes where casualties have trebled in just a week and all other settings outside hospitals from tomorrow.

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Officials already announce all Covid-19 deaths which take place in the UK's hospitals.

But today, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced all deaths in care homes will also form part of the Government's official statistics.

Until now, these victims have only been counted once a week in Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports.

Shockingly, the number of deaths in homes for our elderly and vulnerable have drastically spiked, with at least 4,343 fatalities.

And experts today said the total number of people killed by Covid-19 could be 54 per cent higher than reported.

It is now believed the number of people to die with the virus so far in the UK is at least 32,000.

New stats published today show more than a quarter of all Covid-19 deaths are happening outside of hospitals.

Now Mr Hancock says that, in an effort to "bring as much transparency as possible" to the death figures, "from tomorrow we will be publishing not just the number of deaths in hospital each day, but the number of deaths in care homes and the community too".

"This will add to our understanding of how this virus is spreading day by day, and it will help inform the judgements that we make as we work to keep people safe," he said.

Carers looking after those in homes have been calling for the numbers outside hospitals to be published every day.

They say they can't yet be sure the peak in care homes has been reached yet.

In the week up to April 17, 3,096 people died in care homes from the virus - treble the week before when 1,043 deaths were registered.

WEEK WAS OUR DEADLIEST YET

It means a third of all coronavirus deaths in England and Wales are now happening in care homes.

Many of those who die outside of hospitals are not tested for coronavirus while alive.

Some are never officially diagnosed, and are only suspected of having the illness.

So many are now dying of the illness that the week from April 11 to 17 was the deadliest for England and Wales since records began in 1993.

Those seven days had a death toll of 22,351 - more than double the average of 10,497.

Four out of every 10 people who died that week were infected with coronavirus.

Nick Stripe, head of health analysis at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), told the BBC there is some uncertainty when it comes to homes.

'NO WORDS FOR HOW DIFFICULT THIS IS'

"There could be deaths that are happening in care homes that would ordinarily have been transferred to hospitals," he said.

"It could also be that perhaps care home residents are getting what ostensibly appears like milder symptoms of Covid... but perhaps Covid which is acting in strange ways in some cases could be affecting their underlying health conditions.

"So the evidence of Covid is less obvious, but it might be affecting those underlying conditions and they might be dying of those."

Downing Street insisted it had acted to prevent the spread of coronavirus within care homes in the early stages of the pandemic.

'WE ACTED QUICKLY', SAYS NO. 10

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We set out a strategy for care homes in the early stages of the pandemic and offered detailed advice on how to stop the spread of coronavirus within care homes and also how to stop it from getting inside care homes in the first place.

"We've also been providing PPE from the very early stages of the pandemic."

Last week, care home boss Nicola Richards, the director of Palms Row Healthcare in Sheffield, revealed 16 of her patients have now succumbed to the disease.

In a video exposing the full horror of the illness, she said: “Words cannot describe how difficult it is on the front line.

“The impact has been something else.

“We’ve never been faced with anything like this.

“The challenges have increased daily.”

Coronavirus deaths have jumped to more than 21,600 in hospitals after 586 more people died.

Positive cases have also risen by 3,996 to 161,145 as Britain grapples with week six of drastic lockdown measures.

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