Twice as many deaths in the UK as usual for time of year as ONS stats show coronavirus toll in care homes and at home Not all of the deaths are officially linked to Covid-19 – but the huge increase is illustrates the widespread impact of the virus

The number of people dying in England and Wales has reached a record high, with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing there were 22,351 deaths registered in the week ending 17 April.

This is more than double the five-year average for deaths at this time of year – 10,497 – and represents the highest weekly total recorded since comparable figures began in 1993.

Not all of the deaths have been directly linked to Covid-19 but the huge increase is likely to be partly due to the direct effect of the virus and partly due to undetected cases or indirect effects of the pandemic on care.

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Highest number of deaths ever

The stats provide cause for concern that the toll the virus will have on human life is going to be considerably higher than Government numbers have suggested.

The death statistics can be confusing and vary widely. This is because varying amounts of time elapses between deaths occurring and deaths being registered.

There are also disparities between stats released by NHS England each day, which previously included details of people who died in hospital with the virus, and the ONS stats which include all deaths in the community or care homes, and those who did not have Covid-19 listed on their death certificate.

According to the ONS data, there were just over total of 19,000 deaths involving Covid-19 registered in England and Wales between 28 December 2019 and 17 April 2020.

The release said that including deaths that occurred up to 17 April, but registered up to 25 April, would increase the number further to 21,284 for England and 1,016 for Wales.

At least 1 in 4 deaths are Covid-19

Of the ONS deaths registered, 39.2 per cent (8,758) or one in four of the deaths in England and Wales were coronavirus-related.

This is almost six per cent more than the proportion of all deaths attributed to Covid-19 the previous week, which was 33.6 per cent, showing that the death toll was increasing even after the suspected peak of the virus in the middle of April.

The number of Covid-confirmed deaths have clearly been rising, but the stats also tell a bigger story about the huge swell of deaths that are, officially, not related to the virus.

If we look at the total number of deaths in England and Wales (meaning all causes of death) and compare the figures to the five-year average for the weeks from 13 March to 17 April, the data reveals there were more than 27,000 excess deaths.

This means that, within the space of five weeks, there have been more than 27,000 more deaths than average.

Huge swell of deaths not officially Covid

Less than half of these so-called excess deaths were attributed to Covid-19 by the NHS hospital stats covering the same period – which suggest there were 13,423 Covid-19 deaths by 17 April.

But this leaves more than 13,000 more deaths than normal that have not been officially attributed to the virus – suggesting the virus is having a considerably more catastrophic impact on the population than hospital figures reveal.

We know that par of this is to do with the number of people dying outside of hospital – such as in care homes.

For the first time the ONS included Care Quality Commission (CQC) data on the number of people reported to have died in care homes.

Care homes notified the CQC of 4,343 deaths of residents in homes between 10 and 24 April in England.

Confirmed Covid-19 death rate more 20% higher

Due to the data lag, the ONS has a more accurate breakdown of those who died outside of hospital up to 17 April.

Of the 4,316 coronavirus-related deaths outside of hospital in England and Wales before 17 April, 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 which suggests that the actual number of confirmed coronavirus cases has been more than 20 per cent higher than reported at the time by NHS England.