Shropshire coronavirus deaths pass 200 as hidden care home toll revealed
More than 200 people have now died with coronavirus in Shropshire's hospitals and care homes, new figures show.
A combination of NHS and Office for National Statistics (ONS) data shows that at least 203 Covid-19 patients have now died in the county, although the full figure is likely to be substantially higher.
The latest hospital death figures show a total of 126 patients have died with the virus in Shropshire hospitals since the pandemic began.
Meanwhile ONS data released today shows that 77 people died with coronavirus in the county's care homes between April 10 and May 8.
In the same period there were only four more deaths in hospitals, with 81 people dying with the virus, showing the severity of the Covid-19 impact on the care sector.
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No figures for care homes are available for the period before April 10 but the first coronavirus hospital death in Shropshire is recorded as happening on March 13.
Between May 2 and May 8, 18 people died in county care homes and 20 patients died in Shropshire hospitals.
Twelve of these care home deaths were in the Shropshire Council area and six in the Telford & Wrekin Council area.
That means since April 10, 45 people have died in Shropshire care homes and 32 in Telford & Wrekin.
Of the 126 hospital deaths recorded so far, 114 died in the care of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, seven at Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust and five at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen.
The proportion of coronavirus deaths in Shropshire care homes broadly reflects the wider picture across England and Wales.
Care home deaths in the two countries accounted for some 40 per cent of coronavirus-related fatalities registered in the week ending May 1, with at least 10,535 of all deaths to date taking place outside hospitals, figures show.
Of the 6,035 deaths linked to Covid-19 and registered in the week ending May 1, some 2,423 (40 per cent) were in care homes, compared with 3,214 (53 per cent) in hospitals.
This weekly number of care home deaths is a slight dip from 2,794 in the previous seven days and is the first week-on-week decrease since March 20, according to the ONS.
Of all deaths involving coronavirus up to May 1, some 22,873 took place in hospitals, while 10,535 were elsewhere.
Of these:
8,312 took place in care homes
1,562 were in private homes
386 occurred in hospices
142 took place in other communal establishments
133 happened elsewhere
The ONS said the numbers are based on where Covid-19 is mentioned anywhere on a death certificate, including in combination with other health conditions.
