Covid: UK death toll rises to 26,097

Covid death toll in the UK: the figures of England, Scotland, and Wales, including care homes' deaths.

New figures reveal that the UK Covid death toll is now at 26,097. The number is adding from 4,419 on yesterday’s tally which included death in care homes, hospitals and community. The number is revealed for the first time since the crisis began. The updated figures do not mean a rise of 4,419 deaths in 24 hours – but instead include non-hospital deaths backdated to March 2.

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Covid: UK death toll

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed 765 of the new deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours. He added that the new overall tally includes an additional 3,811 deaths backdated to the start of the outbreak. He also said today’s updated total doesn’t “represent a sudden surge in deaths”, but helps us measure our toll against other countries’ tally.

The government’s new graphic showing deaths ‘in all settings’ – hospitals, care homes and the wide community, is to give the “most comprehensive picture”.

Mr Raab assured Brits today: “We are coming through the peak, but we are not there yet”. The Foreign Secretary told us that we must do what we can to avoid a second spike of the bug, adding that it would be “harmful to public health” and lead to more deaths as well as a second lockdown. He added: “That wouldn’t just be economically dangerous but inflict a serious blow to public confidence.” Today the number of Covid-19 deaths in England rose to 19,746, NHS England confirmed today.

The youngest patient was a 14-year-old with no underlying health conditions, while the oldest was 101. It is the lowest daily rise in deaths recorded in England on a Wednesday throughout April. Then in Scotland, 1,415 patients have now died in hospitals from Covid-19. Based on new data, the true figure is much higher, with more than half of Scotland’s Covid-19’s deaths now happening in care homes. Figures from National Records Scotland (NRS), showed that the actual toll is as high as 2,272 and that 338 of the 656 deaths recorded between 20 and 26 April were in care homes.

While in Wales, the total death toll is now 886 after 73 more deaths were announced today. And another 31 people have died due to this virus with 376 more cases diagnosed in Ireland. According to the Office for National Statistics, 3,096 people died in care homes from the virus in the week up to April 17. It means a third of all Covid-19 deaths in England and Wales are now happening in care homes.