LABOUR has called on the UK Government to publish daily figures for those who have died from coronavirus outside hospital after official statistics showed there were more than 1,000 virus-related care home deaths registered up to April 10 in England and Wales, up from 217 the previous week.
The latest weekly figures from the Office for National Statistics showed there were 1,662 deaths involving Covid-19 south of the border registered up to April 10 which occurred outside hospitals; a fourfold increase on the week before.
The equivalent figure for hospitals deaths over the period was 8,673.
Of the deaths outside hospitals 1,043 took place in care homes, 466 in private homes, 87 in hospices, 21 in other communal establishments and 45 elsewhere
The ONS said the numbers were based on where Covid-19 was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, including in combination with other health conditions.
A total of 406 deaths involving Covid-19 in England and Wales registered up to April 3 occurred outside of hospitals, according to provisional ONS figures; around 10% of the total.
Of these, 217 were registered in care homes, 33 in hospices, 136 in private homes, three in other communal establishments and 17 elsewhere.
Liz Kendall, the Shadow Social Care Minister, said: "This shows the terrible toll that coronavirus is having on elderly and disabled people in care homes.
"Yet these awful figures are only scratching the surface of the emerging crisis in social care, because they are already 11 days out of date.
"The Government must now publish daily figures of Covid-19 deaths outside hospital, including in care homes, so we know the true scale of the problem.
“This is essential to tackling the spread of the virus, ensuing social care has the resources it needs and getting vital PPE and testing to care workers on the frontline," she added.
Dave Prentis, General Secretary of the public services union Unison, said the latest figures highlighted the Government's "shambolic" handling of the coronavirus crisis.
“Staff working in care homes and those looking after people in the community have been massively let down. The ongoing lack of protective kit has left many terrified they’ll spread this deadly virus or become infected themselves.
“There’s still widespread confusion among workers and their employers over what equipment they should have. Some staff are being told off for wearing masks, while others can’t even get hold of hand sanitiser, according to reports still coming into UNISON's PPE alert hotline.
"The Government has got to get its act together if we are to prevent more lives being needlessly lost,” he added.
The ONS figures also showed there were a total of 12,516 deaths involving Covid-19 in England up to April 10 [and which were registered up to April 18], compared with 10,260 deaths in hospitals in England for the same period, reported by NHS England.
The ONS total is 22% higher than the total published by NHS England.
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.
The ONS said that of the deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending April 10 2020, 6,213 mentioned "novel coronavirus [Covid-19]" on the death certificate, which accounted for 33.6% of all deaths in the week.
This compares with 3,475 [21.2% of all deaths] in the previous week.
In London, more than half, 53.2%, of deaths registered in the week ending April 10 involved Covid-19.
The West Midlands had the next highest proportion, 37%, followed by north-west England, 35%, and north-east England, 33.9%. South-west England had the lowest proportion at 19.1%.
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