THE DEADLIEST DAY SINCE MAY

Toll surges by 50% in a week to hit 367 fatalities

THE number of deaths from Covid-19 has hit the highest level since the spring, Government public health advisers said yesterday.

They reported 367 daily deaths from the virus – the greatest number since the end of May.

And the figure is 50 per cent higher than the 241 fatalities recorded last Tuesday

The total came with a warning from Public Health England (PHE) that deaths are rising and the increasing toll will continue ‘for some time’.

The public health authority based its numbers on people who died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.

The figure of 367 deaths in a day is its highest since 422 Covid fatalities were reported on May 27.

The PHE figures – which can include people who tested positive but did not die because of the virus – are often higher earlier in the week due to delayed reporting of deaths over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the Whitehall statistical agency, found that 670 people died with Covid-19 symptoms in England and Wales across the seven days which ended on October 16.

This is a rise of 53 per cent from the previous week, when 438 deaths involving coronavirus were registered.

It also found that the number of people who died with coronavirus in mid-October climbed to its highest in four months.

It comes as experts are warning of historically high levels of deaths of those who have died in their own homes but have not contracted Covid-19.

The ONS figures showed while the number of patients dying in hospitals per week is below the average for the time of year, numbers of deaths in private homes were up by 776 compared to the average for the past five years.

The excess deaths in private homes in the week to October 16 outnumbered the 670 Covid-linked deaths recorded in the same week. Sir David Spiegelhalter, a professor at Cambridge University, said: ‘There continue to be 100 extra non-Covid deaths each day in private homes, one-third more than usual, and showing no sign of decreasing. Perhaps this is a longterm effect of the pandemic.’

During the course of the year, 25,000 more people than expected have died in their own homes – a toll that analysts believe includes older people who have either declined to go to hospital during the pandemic or who have been turned away from hospitals.

The ONS total for Covid-linked deaths is based on doctors recording on death certificates that a patient was showing symptoms of coronavirus.

The ONS said yesterday that only a third of those who tested positive in late September and early October reported they had symptoms when tested. And just 24 per cent said they had one of the major symptoms.

Professor Yvonne Doyle, medical director of PHE, said: ‘We continue to see the trend in deaths rising and it is likely this will continue for some time. Each day we see more people testing positive and hospital admissions increasing.’