Coronavirus-related deaths reported by care home providers top 4,000 – ONS

More than 4,000 deaths in care homes involving coronavirus were reported by care home providers in England up to April 24, figures show.

Care homes notified the Care Quality Commission (CQC) of 4,343 deaths of residents in homes between April 10 and 24, 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.

The new source of care home data comes alongside the ONS’s weekly release, which showed 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.

Overall in England and Wales, almost four in 10 deaths up to April 17 (39.2%) were coronavirus-related.

There were 22,351 provisional deaths registered in England and Wales over the seven days – 11,854 more than the five-year average.

Of these, 8,758 mentioned “novel coronavirus”.

And of the deaths involving Covid-19, just over three-quarters (77.4%) took place in hospital with the remainder occurring in care homes, private homes and hospices.

Up to April 17, the ONS said there were 4,316 coronavirus-related deaths occurring outside of hospital in England and Wales.

Of these:

– 3,096 took place in care homes

– 883 in private homes

– 190 in hospices

– 61 in other communal establishments, and

– 86 elsewhere

The equivalent figure for hospital deaths over this period is 14,796.