The number of people dying from coronavirus in care homes has doubled in the past week, new data has revealed.
A new report from the National Care Forum found 2,500 deaths within care homes have occurred in the past seven days. The body warns these figures highlight ‘significant’ flaws in the current national reporting.
The analysis also suggests 4,040 people may have died from Covid-19 within UK residential and nursing services before 13 April.
Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum, said: ‘This data is revelatory in many ways. Quite simply, so long as groups such as residents in care services are omitted from the real-time national reporting on the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government will surely be unable to properly plan for how to protect its people or exit this crisis.
The body is calling for the Government to build ‘a ring of steel’ around care homes and ensure the right PPE equipment, testing, funding and medical monitoring devices are provided.
