Coronavirus deaths in care homes and hospitals pass 1,000 in Wales

The number of deaths in Wales related to coronavirus has passed 1,000 according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

In the week up to April 17 - and registered up to April 25 - deaths involving Covid-19 was 1,016 compared with 632 deaths reported by Public Health Wales.

The difference between these numbers is because the ONS figures include all mentions of Covid-19 on a death certificate, including suspected Covid-19, as well as deaths in the community.

In Wales, 119 out of 302 care home deaths were because of coronavirus in the week up to April 17. There has been jump of more than 100% in the number of Welsh care home deaths compared to 56 the week before.

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The figures also shows, there were 22,351 provisional deaths registered in England and Wales over the seven days which works out as 11,854 more than the five-year average.

  • Health Reporter, James Crichton-Smith looks at what the latest ONS figures show us about Covid-19 in care homes.

Today's figures published by the Office for National Statistics give us the latest snapshot of how coronavirus is impacting our hospitals and care homes.

While recent days have seen talk of Covid-19 cases plateauing or levelling off and a curve that has been 'flattened' or 'squashed' - one area that will be of concern is care homes.

In Wales, for the week ending April 17, around a third of all the deaths in care homes in Wales were from Covid-19.

That's 119 out of 302. In the same week in hospitals, around half of the 510 total deaths were coronavirus.

Compared to the week before, care homes saw more than a 100% increase in coronavirus deaths. The same increase was not seen in hospitals.

What this appears to show is that care homes are still in the grip of an escalating crisis.

This is an assessment echoed by care home managers. Sanjiv Joshi, the managing director of the Caron Group, which has 14 care homes across South and Mid Wales, told ITV Wales that the numbers are 'exploding'.

Mr Joshi said: "I suspect as time goes on and we see the numbers in hindsight, we will probably see a larger number as a result of covid."

In one of his care homes alone, says Mr Joshi, he fears 14 residents have been lost to the virus. He won't know for sure because not every resident will have been tested.

Mr Joshi said that he believes the true scale of the unfolding situation is much worse. He said: "What we're looking at is a lag of a week which doesn't give us a full picture."