One care home resident died every MINUTE of coronavirus pandemic with almost 20,000 now lost
ONE care home resident died every MINUTE during the coronavirus pandemic in England and Wales as almost 20,000 have died, according to the latest figures.
The latest figures today revealed 1,300 care home residents died on April 12.
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It is highest daily death toll for the sector during the pandemic, tallying to almost one death every minute.
It is more than triple the number of fatalities on the same date last year when 407 care home residents died.
A total of 495 coronavirus deaths were recorded among care home residents for April 12.
At the time, very few care home residents and staff were being tested for coronavirus.
It wasn't until April 15 that Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced coronavirus tests will be given to everyone in care homes.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show a total of 19,394 care home residents died between March 2 and June 12 in England and Wales.
The fatalities recorded by ONS refer to all deaths of care home residents, whether they died at a care home or in another setting, such as a hospital.
74.9 per cent of deaths occurred in a care home and 24.8 per cent of residents died in hospital.
The highest number of coronavirus deaths among care home residents was recorded in the South East and the lowest number of deaths occurred in Wales.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Every death is a tragedy, and our deepest sympathies go out to everyone who have lost loved ones.
“We have been doing everything we can to ensure care home residents and staff are protected during this unprecedented global pandemic and the Vivaldi 1 study has proved invaluable as we further build on our understanding of this virus.
“We announced today that we will be rolling out repeat testing for care home staff and residents across the country from Monday, to help further reduce the spread of infection in care homes.”
It comes as the Government today said staff and residents in care homes will be regularly tests for Covid-19.
The Department of Health said on Friday that staff will be tested weekly, while residents will receive a test every 28 days as part of a new social care testing strategy.
It added that this new strategy is in addition to any intensive testing in any care home that is facing an outbreak or at risk of one.
The programme will be rolled out to all care homes for the over-65s and those with dementia which have registered to receive retesting over the next four weeks.
It will then be expended to the entire care home sector from August.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: "Our response to this global pandemic has always been led by the latest scientific advice from world-class experts, and we will now offer repeat testing to staff and residents in care homes, starting with homes for elderly residents before expanding to the entire care home sector.
"This will not only keep residents and care workers safe, but it will give certainty and peace of mind to the families who may be worried about their loved ones, and give staff the confidence to do what they do best."
The Government has repeatedly come under fire over its criticism in how it handled the outbreak in the care homes.
This morning, Boris Johnson was asked if an earlier lockdown could have prevented some deaths in care homes..
Mr Johnson told LBC: "We will have to go back and look at the whole issue of what happened in care homes in great, great detail.
"I think what happened was absolutely tragic, there's no question that we saw far too many lives lost in care homes and we mourn for everyone."
Mr Johnson added that he disputed the claims that people were pushed into care homes from the NHS to make space in hospitals.
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He said that the numbers of people going into care homes fell by 40 per cent from January to March.
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He said: "What we certainly wanted to do to was to ensure we had the space in the NHS, that's absolutely right, but what I'm told is every decision to move people out of the beds in the NHS was taken on a clinical basis and not in any way intended to endanger the care homes.
"Whether an earlier lockdown would have made the crucial difference is something that really we will have to go over and look at."
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