COVID-19 deaths have now passed 40,000 in the UK, official figures reveal.
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows 35,044 were killed by the bug in England and Wales up to May 1.
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But once equivalent figures from Scotland and Northern Ireland are factored in, alongside hospital fatalities from May 2 to May 11, the national total is 40,383.
It is much higher than the 32,692 stated by the Department of Health today as it also includes unconfirmed cases where the virus is recorded on the death certificate.
However, Covid-19 fatalities in care homes are starting to fall.
The ONS report shows there were 2,423 fatalities where the virus was mentioned on the death certificate in the week ending May 1 — down from nearly 2,800 the week before.
More than 8,300 deaths in care homes have been linked to the virus since the epidemic started.
The Local Government Association said the number of deaths was “shocking”.
CARE HOME DEATHS FALL
Care Minister Helen Whately said it was a “relief” to see fatalities in care homes starting to fall.
She said: “They sadly continue to make up a significant proportion of coronavirus related deaths and our work is not done.
"Supporting the social care sector through this pandemic has always been a priority, and we are doing everything in our power to ensure they have all they need to look after those in their care.”
Weekly deaths from all causes for the past seven weeks have been higher than the five-year average.
In the week to May 1, there were 8,012 extra deaths than would be expected for the time of year.
Nick Stripe, head of health analysis at the ONS, said: “It is actually the seventh highest weekly total since this data set started in 1993, so we have had four out of the top seven weeks in the last four weeks.”
More than a quarter of extra deaths — around 2,000 in the last week — were not due to Covid-19, according to the ONS.
Risk expert Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, from the University of Cambridge, said: “We have got a huge number of essentially unexplained extra deaths in homes and care homes.
“And this is extraordinary. This rise in non-Covid extra deaths outside the hospital is something I hope will be given really severe attention, because many of these are a story of somebody who may well have lived longer had they managed to get to hospital.”
The professor said in the past five weeks, one in 1,800 of the population has been killed.
He said: “For the over-50s, the outbreak has raised their risk of death by around 65 per cent. Far less for those 15 to 50, and essentially no increase for the under-15s.
“This 65 per cent increase risk for older people corresponds to around three weeks’ worth of extra risk — having eight weeks’ risk of mortality squeezed into five weeks.”
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Professor Carl Heneghan, from the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, said just 1.2 per cent of Covid deaths were among the under-45s and that more than four in five deaths have been in those over 70.
Prof Heneghan said the number of unexplained extra deaths in the past two months has remained “fixed” at 25 per cent.
He said: “Actually there is something else happening that is not Covid.
“For a few weeks it has never been as quiet in frontline healthcare, that I’ve seen in 20 years.
“This suggests that the message of ‘stay at home’ has potentially been interpreted as people have been unwell, have been staying at home and that has led to these excess deaths. Part of that is potentially people with cardiovascular disease.
“And so the message is anybody with any chest pain and shortness of breath should be presenting as though they're an urgent care issue.”
UNKNOWINGLY INFECTED
Meanwhile, a study suggests more than 15,000 NHS staff may have fuelled Covid-19 outbreaks by working while unknowingly infected.
Three in every 100 apparently healthy workers tested by University of Cambridge researchers were found to be carrying the disease.
They checked 1,268 doctors, nurses and physios for Covid-19 at the city’s Addenbrooke’s Hospital across three weeks in April.
A total of 31 of the 1,032 staff who reported fit for duty were positive — equivalent to 15,000 frontline NHS staff nationally.
Those working in areas of the hospital where coronavirus patients are treated were three times more likely to be infected.
All patients admitted to an NHS hospital for any reason are now routinely screened for Covid-19 and isolated if necessary. But staff are tested and excluded from work only if they have symptoms.
It means they could be unwittingly passing it on to family, colleagues and patients.
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Researcher Dr Mike Weekes said his findings show the importance of regularly testing all NHS frontline staff for the bug, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms.
He said: “Test, test, test — and then test some more. This will be vital to stop infection spreading within the hospital setting.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set a target of 200,000 tests a day across hospitals, care homes and the wider public by the end of May.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiSWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZXN1bi5jby51ay9uZXdzLzExNjA5MTgwL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWRlYXRocy00MDAwMC11ay1jYXNlcy_SAU1odHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVzdW4uY28udWsvbmV3cy8xMTYwOTE4MC9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1kZWF0aHMtNDAwMDAtdWstY2FzZXMvYW1wLw?oc=5
2020-05-13 04:55:40Z
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