Atherstone waits on true Covid picture as PM stand-in admits 'horror' as UK death toll may end up worst in Europe

DOMINIC RAAB SAYS 'NO SUGAR COATING' VIRUS ISSUES AS CARE HOME FATALITIES TO BE PUBLISHED ALONGSIDE ONES FROM HOSPITAL

AS ATHERSTONE continues to mourn its loved ones lost to Covid-19, the scale of the challenge facing the UK in tackling its spread in care homes was acknowledged by ministers ahead of the publication of figures likely to give a clearer picture of the true death toll.

With at least another 528 UK hospital deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, First Secretary Dominic Raab – standing in for Boris Johnson following the birth of the Prime Minister's son – said there would be no "sugar coating" of the issues and stressed the efforts being made to get a grip on the care homes crisis.

The Foreign Secretary, who faced questions in the Commons amid fears that the UK was on course to have the highest coronavirus death toll in Europe, said there was a "joint horror" across the House at the number of people killed in the outbreak.

They included 85 NHS workers and 23 social care workers - a total of 108.

Independent analysis showed some 24,899 deaths involving coronavirus have been formally registered across the UK, though the true toll is thought to be far higher.

There is currently an 11-day time lag for the Office of National Statistics' (ONS) data on the number of people who have died in care homes and their own homes after contracting coronavirus.

But from today the public will receive up-to-date figures to go alongside the number of hospital deaths.

Care home providers notified the Care Quality Commission of 4,316 deaths of residents in homes between April 10 and 24, the Office of National Statistics said.

It is the first time the CQC death notifications for suspected or confirmed Covid-19 in care homes have been published.

Adding the new ONS statistics of 4,316 'outside' deaths to recorded hospital ones in the UK puts the running Covid toll at 26,549 – not including the hospital fatalities for Wales and Northern Ireland which will be released later today.

This figure pus the UK in third place in the global death tally behind Italy (27,259) and the US (59,266). The world total is now 219,287.

America's one million recorded cases makes up a third of the global total of 3.16m people testing positive for the virus.

The UK has seen its confirmed cases pass the 160,000 mark – Tuesday's figure being up a further 3,996 to 161,145. It has now overtaken the German total and put the UK in fifth place in the 'case' league table

Hospital deaths now stand at 22,206.

Towns, cities and counties in the West and East Midlands and North West continue to be on a steeper curve in case increases than London and the South East. The 24-hour figure rose by 445 compared with just 96 in London. Kent remains the UK's 'hot spot' for coronavirus in the upper tier local authority table with 3,243 people testing positive for the virus – up just 11 cases in the last 24 hours –Birmingham saw 28 new cases and remains in second spot with 2,733. Warwickshire has 1,090 confirmed cases (36 up on yesterday), Coventry is on 636 (up seven) – Atherstone's neighbouring county Staffordshire is in 10th place has 1,637 cases (up 42) and Leicestershire 874 (up 16). By region, London now has 23,979 cases (up 96), East and West Midlands is 18,359 (up 445) combined, the North West 17,873 (up 390) and the South East 16,323 (up 195). At Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pointed to chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance's suggestion in March that keeping the death toll below 20,000 would be a good outcome. "We're clearly way above that number and we're only part way through this crisis and we're possibly on track to have one of the worst death rates in Europe," Sir Keir said. He took issue with Mr Johnson's comments about the "apparent success" of the UK's strategy, adding: "Far from success these latest figures are truly dreadful." Mr Raab told him it was too early to make international comparisons. The spread of the virus in care homes, where elderly residents are most at risk from coronavirus, is a major cause of concern. "It is a challenge that we must grip and can grip to make sure we can get the numbers down in care homes as we have seen in hospitals and as we've seen in the country at large," Mr Raab said. Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, a statistician at the University of Cambridge, said he believes more coronavirus deaths are now occurring in care homes and at home than in hospitals. Mr Hancock said: "The proportion of coronavirus deaths in care homes is around a sixth of the total." Professor John Newton said the UK has been affected worse than Germany "because of the way it spread". Meanwhile, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson suggested schools could reopen in a "phased manner" when lockdown restrictions are eased, although there was no fixed date for that The impact of the virus on businesses and consequently the public finances has added to the pressure on ministers to set out how lockdown measures might be eased. Downing Street was forced to deny it had watered down one of the five tests required for allowing the measures to be lifted. Rather than stating in test five that the Government had to be confident any adjustments would not "risk a second peak of infections", the wording was changed to say no weakening of restrictions would be made that risked a second peak that "overwhelms the NHS" – a lower bar. The lockdown is due to be reviewed on May 7 and Sir Keir urged Mr Raab to give more information on the exit strategy. But the Foreign Secretary said "concrete proposals" could not be set out without evidence from experts on the scientific advisory group for emergencies.