Nearly 20,000 care home residents die with virus

ALMOST 20,000 care home residents in England and Wales have died with coronavirus, the majority dying in their care home, official figures show.

Death certificates for 19,394 residents mentioned “novel coronavirus” between March 2 and June 12, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Covid-19 accounted for 29% of the deaths of care home residents over this period and a fifth of all deaths of care home residents this year.

The latest data includes all care home residents who died with coronavirus either at their care home or in hospital.

This pushes the overall care home resident death figure 32% higher than the 14,658 deaths in care homes reported by the ONS on Tuesday.

Three-quarters (74.9%) of residents died in their care home, a quarter (24.8%) died in hospital, while 65 residents, representing 0.3% of the total, died in a separate location such as a private home or hospice.

There have also been 819 deaths involving Covid-19 of people receiving domiciliary care between April 10 and June 19, according to Care Quality Commission data.

Janet Finch-Saunders MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Older People and Social Care, said: “The virus is still out there, and that includes in care homes. We see this in the statistics published today and that means that we cannot let down our guard against Covid-19 for some of our most vulnerable people, and those who work so hard to care for them.

“The Minister has promised fortnightly tests for residents, but these have yet to be implemented in all areas of Wales.

“And so, I and my Welsh Conservative colleagues call for this to be implemented immediately, or have the reasons why the Labour-led Welsh Government will not do – or cannot achieve – this to be made public.”