Atherstone can expect 'at least THREE more weeks' of coronavirus lockdown

STAND-IN PM DOMINIC RAAB TO TELL US LATER THAT MAY 7 EARLIEST TO LIFT RESTRICTIONS AS 'COMMUNITY DEATH' TOLL FIGURES TO BE RELEASED IN HALF AN HOUR

ATHERSTONE, along with the rest of the nation, will be told later to continue living with Covid-19 lockdown until at least May 7 as new figures are being released to reveal the true extent of every death linked to the virus.

Stand-in PM Dominic Raab is set to announce on Thursday that while the Government's plan to tackle the coronavirus pandemic "is working" – restrictions will have to stay in place for another three weeks before being reviewed again.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Valance has also warned of a "difficult" week ahead in terms of the UK death toll with the virus not yet past its peak.

Meanwhile, industry bosses warned daily death tolls are "airbrushing out" hundreds of older people who have died in the care system, as the chief medical officer announced that coronavirus outbreaks had been recorded at 92 care homes in the UK in just 24 hours.

The Department of Health and Social has admitted there are 2,100 confirmed cases of the virus in care homes in England and Wales with a reported 30 deaths over Easter weekend alone.

With the Government failing to adequately answer questions over the death toll outside hospitals, the Office for National Statistics is due to release new figures on the number of deaths involving coronavirus at 9.30am this morning – and the statistics will include EVERY community death linked to Covid-19 in England and Wales.

Clearly the UK death toll – with a case fatality rate of 12.78 per cent putting it alongside Italy as the worst in the world – is still on an upward trajectory. Almost 6,000 lives have been lost in the last seven days out of a total of 11,329.

With the current rate of increases in confirmed cases, we can expect the present total of 88,621 to pass the 100,000 recorded mark by Thursday evening.

With its own sad loss of former 3M worker Roy Allitt last week, Atherstone continues to be close to the heart of outbreak's worst statistics.

Birmingham – rooted to the top spot of an upper tier local authorities' table – saw its confirmed cases rise from 1,774 to 1,853 in the last 24 hours.

Warwickshire, 31st in the table, now has 626 recorded cases – up 53 on the previous day and a FIVEFOLD increase since the end of March. Neighbouring Leicestershire has 540 people who have tested positive and Coventry is approaching the 400 mark at 393.

Confirmed cases in the Midlands rose 549 in a day to 11,368 while London increased by 521 to 18,000 exactly.

The world total stands on the edge of two million cases and close to 120,000 deaths.

Speaking at Monday's Downing Street press conference, Mr Raab praised the public for staying at home over the Easter weekend, and added: "Our plan is working.

"Please stick with it, and we'll get through this crisis together."

Details of how the lockdown will eventually be lifted remain unclear, however, with the Government repeatedly refusing to outline its "exit strategy".

Scientists advising the Government are expected to meet this week to review the latest figures, but Mr Raab insisted it was crucial that "we do not take our eye off the ball" with regards to social distancing.

It came as the World Health Organisation said restrictions should be lifted slowly and not "all at once" to avoid a resurgence of the virus, and only if appropriate measures are in place, including "significant" capacity for contact tracing.

But experts have also warned that the public's strong support to stick to the lockdown measures "won't last" and the Government needs to find a way to tell the nation about how it will be eased.

But he insisted the virus was not yet past its peak and that it was "far too early" to talk about relaxing the measures,

Around half the deaths from coronavirus are happening in care homes, according to data from five European countries in a new study.

Data collected from official sources by a London School of Economics-based team found 42-57 per cent of all deaths linked to the virus were among care home residents.

The countries studied by the International Long Term Care Policy Network included Italy, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and France.

In Ireland, as of Saturday, there had been 6,444 cases of Covid-19 and 288 deaths, of which 156, or 54 per cent, were care home residents.

The most recent figures from Belgium suggest 1,405 care home deaths from coronavirus, 42 per cent of the total, while figures from Spain are based on media reports of regional government figures for the month to April 8 which cite 8,345 deaths in aged care facilities, or 57 per cent of the total.

In Italy, the figures were based on a survey with 577 homes, or 10 per cent of the total in the country, taking part with an extrapolated figure of 53 per cent of deaths in care homes, while French data from the Ministry of Health gives a figure of 44.6 per cent.

UK chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said around 13.5 per cent of care homes in England and Wales have registered an outbreak and said he would like to see an uplift in testing.

Asked if deaths are being recorded properly in such settings, he said: "Everybody who sadly dies, the doctor will make an assessment based on her or his view about what the cause of death is, that's what the death certificate says in all cases.

"Doctors take it very seriously and try to make sure that they get as much information to give accurate data.

"One of the things we want to do is to extend the amount of testing of people in care homes as the ability to test ramps up over the next few weeks.

"Because clearly care homes are one of the areas where there are large numbers of vulnerable people and that is an area of risk and therefore we would very much like to have much more extensive testing."

Meanwhile, Next bosses say they will begin selling online again today after putting extra safety measures in place to ensure warehouse staff can work safely.

The retail giant closed its online operations in late March in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

But a statement posted on the Next website says warehouse managers have "successfully tested opening and taking a limited number of orders today" and invites customers to shop online again from Tuesday.