The number of coronavirus-related deaths in care homes more than quadrupled from 217 to 1,043 in the space of a week, new figures show.

In total, there were 18,516 deaths provisionally registered in England and Wales in the week ending April 10 - 7,996 deaths more than the five-year average and the highest weekly total since 2000.

Of these 6,123 mentioned "novel coronavirus (COVID-19)" - around a third of all deaths, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics.

The week's figures show the proportion of deaths outside hospitals rose to 16%, with 83.9% (8,673 deaths) occurring in hospitals.

The figures have been labelled "sad and shocking", with Labour saying they were "only scratching the surface of the emerging crisis in social care".


Ministers have promised to ramp up testing for social care workers and residents, pledging tests for all those who need them, as well as improving access to vital protective equipment.

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And following demands for the government to speed up the reporting of care home deaths, the ONS will from next week publish weekly totals of deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes, with the figures based on deaths reported by care home operators to the Care Quality Commission.

According to the ONS, the numbers are based on where the coronavirus is mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, including in combination with other health conditions.

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It comes as daily figures for coronavirus-related deaths in hospitals were released on Tuesday, showing the biggest rise in England in just under two weeks.

England - 778 deaths, total 15,607

Scotland - 70 deaths, total 985

Wales - 25 deaths, total 609

Northern Ireland - to be confirmed

Labour's shadow social care minister, Liz Kendall, said the ONS figures demonstrated the "terrible toll" that the virus 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awful figures are only scratching the surface of the emerging crisis in social care, because they are already 11 days out of date," she said.

"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 front line."

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Councillor Ian Hudspeth, chairman of the Local Government Association's Community Wellbeing Board, described the latest statistics as "sad and shocking".

He said they "highlight just what a severe challenge we face in care homes and other community settings".

Reacting to the latest ONS figures, a panel of scientists convened by the Science Media Centre said the peak in COVID-19 deaths in England and Wales happened on 8 April and the death rate has been consistent for the last 13 days.

Prof Carl Heneghan, director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at the University of Oxford, said: "From an epidemiological perspective we can say that the numbers are consistent with the peak happening on 8 April.

"We've now tracked for 13 days that has been consistent - it hasn't jumped up.

"All of the other data surrounding this, the triangulation of the data is showing us that is the case."

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The ONS said a steep rise in coronavirus-related care home deaths had seen the overall number of deaths in that setting double in four weeks.

From when the first COVID-19 deaths were registered and the week ending 10 April, the number of deaths in care homes rose from 2,471 to 4,927.

Outside hospitals and care homes, 466 deaths occurred in private homes, 87 in hospices, 21 in other communal establishments and 45 elsewhere.