New figures suggest more than 500 people in care homes in the Anglia region have died with coronavirus

The death toll from Covid-19 in care homes in the Anglia region has risen sharply and could be up to five times higher than reported a week ago.

When all deaths are counted in hospitals as well as care homes, the community and elsewhere, the total number in the Anglia region is now more than 3,000.

  • Click below for a full report from ITV News Anglia's Rob Setchell.

Last week, 115 people were known to have died with coronavirus in care homes in the Anglia region. Data released today by the Office of National Statistics and the Care Quality Commission suggest the total could now be 564, up to the 24th April.

Although the number of people dying in hospitals is released daily by the NHS, figures from care homes are reported weekly and there is a longer time lag.

The Office of National Statistics reported that 327 people had died in care homes in the Anglia region up to the 17th April.

Separate figures from the Care Quality Commission, which is now collecting individual data from care homes, confirmed an addition 244 deaths in the region from the 18th to 24th April.

There are fears the number of people dying in care homes with coronavirus is still rising. Credit: PA Images

The Office of National Statistics also reported that 77 people with coronavirus had died in their own homes in the Anglia region up to the 17th April.

There were also 13 deaths in hospices and 12 more in other locations outside hospital.

Most of the people dying with Covid-19 do pass away in hospital with 82% of deaths in the Anglia region occurring there.

The number of people dying in hospitals in the East of England, Milton Keynes and Northamptonshire was 2,371 up to 5pm on Sunday 26th April.

The total number of coronavirus deaths in the Anglia region is now more than 3,100.

Deaths of residents in care home in the Anglia region to 24 April 2020Data from ONS and CQC

  • 32 in Bedfordshire

  • 42 in Cambridgeshire

  • 109 in Essex

  • 188 in Hertfordshire

  • 45 in Milton Keynes

  • 27 in Norfolk

  • 57 in Northamptonshire

  • 64 in Suffolk

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