Extra 172 coronavirus deaths in the Anglia region outside hospitals

New official figures suggest the coronavirus has contributed to an additional 172 deaths in care homes, hospices and in the community in the Anglia region.

The data released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed than the region saw 1,348 deaths related to Covid-19 in the year up to 10 April. There is a time lag in the figures because it relies on deaths being registered and death certificates being processed.

Of those 1,348 deaths, 1,176 occurred in hospitals with 115 in care homes, 10 in hospices and 41 people passed away in their own homes.

Daily figures released by NHS England and the government currently only include people dying in hospitals. The new data from the ONS suggests the total death toll is 15% higher in the Anglia region that the daily figures already published.

The total deaths in hospitals in the Anglia region announced up to 5pm on 19 April was 1,810. The actual figure could be well more 2,000 or higher, once deaths in care homes are added in.

Nationally, coronavirus was linked to a third of all deaths in England and Wales in the week up to April 10, with the total number of care home deaths increasing almost six-fold in seven days.

There were 18,516 deaths provisionally registered in England and Wales in the week ending April 10 - 7,996 deaths more than the five-year average and the highest weekly total since 2000.

Of the deaths registered in the week ending April 10, 6,213 mentioned "novelcoronavirus (Covid-19)", which is around a third (33.6%) of all deaths.

Martin Hibberd, Professor of Emerging Infectious Disease at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: "With limited testing being carried out, it may be that all of the 7,996 excess deaths were directly due toCovid-19.

"But it is also likely that at least some of these were indirectlyinvolved, such as through inability to access typical medical care for otherconditions because of Covid-19 activities."

In the Anglia region, there were an additional 172 deaths related to Covid-19 outside of hospitals in the year up to 10th April.

When the daily hospital figures were initially released for that period, the Anglia region had seen 985 deaths.

This new updated data from the Office for National Statistics increases that hospital total to 1,174 and once the deaths in care homes, hospices and in the community and elsewhere are also added in, the regional death toll is 1,346.

The latest available data released by the ONS relates to the week up to Good Friday, 10th April 2020.

In that week, there were 2,995 deaths registered in Anglia region of which more than a fifth (661) were related to the coronavirus.

Most of the people with Covid-19 died in hospital - 551 people or 83% of the total.

But a significant number of people died elsewhere with 85 deaths in a week in the region's care homes and 18 people died in their own homes.