Care home coronavirus-related deaths in England and Wales up to 4000 according to latest ONS figures

More than 6,500 deaths involving coronavirus have occurred in England and Wales outside of hospital, official figures show.

Care homes notified the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of 4,343 deaths of residents in homes between April 10 and 24 in England, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

It is the first time the CQC death notifications for suspected or confirmed Covid-19 in care homes have been published.

Care providers said it is clear the "epicentre of this crisis is in care homes" and that the sector is "sadly the most affected area of society in terms of deaths from Covid-19".

Prior to April 10, there were 1,000 deaths registered in care homes, Nick Stripe, head of health analysis, told the BBC.

Separately, the ONS said there were 1,220 deaths which occurred outside hospital, excluding care home deaths, in England and Wales up to April 17.

Over 6,500 non-hospital deaths

The ONS and CQC figures added together make a total of 6,563 deaths outside hospital.

And overall, some 24,243 deaths involving coronavirus have now been registered across the UK, analysis by the PA news agency shows.

Nick Stripe, head of health analysis at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), told the BBC: "There could be deaths that are happening in care homes that would ordinarily have been transferred to hospitals. So those care pathways might be being disrupted to some degree.

"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."

The ONS's weekly release also showed the total number of deaths involving Covid-19 in England up to April 17 (and which were registered up to April 25), was 39% higher than the equivalent NHS total.

The ONS figures show there were 21,284 deaths involving Covid-19 over that period, compared with 15,293 deaths in hospitals in England for the same period, reported 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.

Victims deserve better

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group (ICG), said those in care and nursing homes who have died "deserve better".

He said: "Due to the lag in collating these figures, we do fear that the true number of people who have died in care and nursing homes since the start of coronavirus may be higher than these figures suggest. It may well be that they are increasing whilst hospital deaths are falling.

"We hope not, but it might be that the numbers will actually be higher.

"Social care providers are now on the true front line in the fight against Covid-19 and we need more support."