Covid-19 kills 7500 pensioners

As many as 7500 care home residents have died in England of suspected coronavirus, according to the latest estimates.

Data collated by Care England, the country’s largest representative body for care homes, suggest the number of deaths of residents from Covid-19 is more than double previous estimates earlier this week. The figure is also far higher than the official figure from the Office for National Statistics, which recorded just 217 care home deaths from the virus up to April 3.

Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, said that “without testing, it is very difficult to give an absolute figure”, but added: “If we look at some of the death rates since April 1 and compare them with previous years’ rates, we estimate a figure of about 7500 people may have died as a result of Covid-19.”

The organisation represents around 3800 care homes and more than 50,000 residents and gathered the data by collating information from its own homes.

The Care Quality Commission has released figures showing outbreaks in 3084 care homes in England, up to and including Wednesday, as a row developed around the extent of the crisis and the Government’s response.

The Government was accused of misleading the public about the scale of pandemic earlier this week because it failed to include care home deaths in its daily briefings, while healthcare workers have warned that deaths have been substantially underestimated by official figures.

Charities also warned that the data “will send a chill down the spine of anyone with a loved one living in a care home”, as they renewed their calls for increased provision of personal protective equipment for care homes.

The elderly have been hardest hit by the virus, with 69 per cent of those who have died aged over 70, according to Public Health England.