Official figures reveal coronavirus care home deaths in Cumbria
Official figures from The Care Quality Commission (CQC) have revealed the impact of coronavirus on the county's care homes.
The watchdog has published its first set of findings, after concerns that care home deaths were not being tracked sufficiently.
The figures were released today, alongside the weekly update from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showing deaths in all settings.
There were 63 deaths in care homes in Cumbria involving coronavirus between 10 and 24 April.
That amounts to 48% all deaths in care homes in Cumbria during that two-week period, according to the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The ONS' latest figures show that, across Allerdale, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden and South Lakeland, 30% of deaths involving coronavirus in the week up until 17 April happened in care homes.
There were 13 deaths in care homes in South Lakeland during that week.
27% of all deaths in those five districts during that week involved coronavirus.
The difference in the figures between the organisations is due to the way the deaths are reported.
ONS looks at registered deaths, which includes death certificates which include a mention of Covid-19 while CQC looks at death notifications - care homes telling the regulator in England they’ve had a death with Covid-19.