AROUND one in 10 coronavirus-related deaths registered up to April 3 in England and Wales took place outside hospitals, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Out of a total of 406 such deaths, 217 were registered in care homes, 33 in hospices, 136 in private homes, three in other communal establishments and 17 elsewhere. Some 3,716 deaths occurred in hospitals.

The numbers are based on where Covid-19 or suspected Covid-19 is mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, including in combination with other health conditions, the ONS said.

Including deaths that occurred up to April 3 but were registered up to April 11, the number involving Covid-19 was 6,235.

The new statistics came as a claim was made that the current UK Government figures were “airbrushing older people out like they don't matter".

It has been suggested unrecorded deaths in Scottish care homes could push the Covid-19 death toll significantly higher.

Robert Kilgour, Chairman of Renaissance Care, which has 14 facilities north of the border, said there had been up to 300 deaths in care homes that were not counted in official figures, which as of yesterday stood at 575.

Nick Stripe, head of health analysis and life events at the ONS, explained that the data for south of the border was “15 per cent higher than the NHS numbers as they include all mentions of Covid-19 on the death certificate, including suspected Covid-19, as well as deaths in the community”.

He added: "The 16,387 deaths that were registered in England and Wales during the week ending 3 April is the highest weekly total since we started compiling weekly deaths data in 2005."

Of the 16,387 deaths, around a fifth, 21.2 per cent, mentioned "novel coronavirus".

The previous week, just 4.8 per cent of all deaths registered had mentioned Covid-19.

In London, almost half, 46.6 per cent, of deaths registered in the week ending April 3 involved Covid-19, while the virus accounted for 22.1 per cent of deaths registered in the West Midlands.

The ONS overall total for England - 5,979 deaths involving Covid-19 up to April 3 and registered up to April 11 - is 15 per cent higher than the total reported by NHS England for the same period, which was 5,186 deaths in hospitals.

This is because the ONS figures include all mentions of Covid-19 on a death certificate, including suspected Covid-19, as well as deaths in the community.

The NHS figures only include deaths in hospitals where a patient has been tested for Covid-19.

Labour’s Kendall said: "The increase in Covid-19 deaths in care homes is extremely worrying but the true picture will sadly be even worse because these figures are only up to the week ending April 3.

"We urgently need these figures on a daily basis to help deal with the emerging crisis in social care and ensure everything possible is being done to protect more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people who live in nursing and residential care homes.

"The Government has rightly said the NHS will get whatever resources it needs to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. This must also apply to social care, which needs a much greater priority and focus than it has had so far.”

The Shadow Social Care Minister added: "It is vital that at today's press conference, ministers set out precisely how they are keeping care home residents safe and when care staff will get the PPE and testing they desperately need."

The charity Age UK claimed the killer virus was “running wild" in care homes for elderly people.

Commenting on the Government’s numbers, Caroline Abrahams, its director, said: "The current figures are airbrushing older people out like they don't matter."

Former chief executive of the Care Quality Commission and non-executive director of HC-One, Britain's largest care home operator, Sir David Behan said Covid-19 was present in two-thirds of their care homes.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We've been monitoring these numbers since the beginning of the outbreak and as of yesterday evening at 8pm we'd had 2,447 of either suspected or confirmed Covid-19 within our care homes.

"It's present in 232 of our homes which is about two-thirds of the total number of homes that we run. And again, as of last night, there have been 311 residents who have died as a result of, or suspected, Covid-19. And, indeed, sadly over the weekend we've lost one member of staff.

"Covid-19 deaths are representative of about...just under about a third of all deaths that we've had over the past three weeks.

“So, this isn't just an issue of deaths from Covid-19 as I've already said, this is a very frail group of older people and we'd normally have a number of deaths taking place throughout the winter months and we're also dealing with that as well," added Sir David.

On Monday, Professor Chris Whitty, England’s Chief Medical Officer, said around 13.5 per cent of care homes across the country had registered a Covid-19 outbreak.

Meanwhile, Nadra Ahmed, Chairwoman of the National Care Association, told ITV's Good Morning Britain that care homes were struggling to source and pay for personal protective equipment and prices were "not sustainable" for the care sector.

She said the Government had removed VAT on the essential kit for the NHS and urged it to do the same for the social care sector.

Ms Ahmed said one provider had paid £8,500 for just one week's worth of PPE, adding: "We've said to the Chancellor 'take the VAT off PPE, these are essential items'.

"They've taken it off for the NHS but they've not moved it for social care... without our staff we can't deliver the care."

Ms Ahmed added: "If the social care sector fails, if there is provider failure, the problem is going to be much bigger for the Government and I think it's very short-sighted of them not to have focused on social care much earlier."

Former Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann, a campaigner for later-life care, told the programme the average age of care home residents was around 85, adding: "It is as if somehow social care, when you get into the care system... you don't count as much, and that cannot be right".

She said: "One of the saddest things about this crisis... it's clear that in many cases older people are being silently left without the support they need.

"If somebody is seriously ill either make sure they get to hospital and get the treatment they need or make sure the home they are in is properly equipped to deal with whatever they need... and that's simply not happening," added the Conservative peer.