Nearly one in three care homes across England have seen outbreaks of Covid-19, new figures revealed today writes Ben Walker.
The data – published by Public Health England – found that 4,516 of the country’s 15,517 care homes had seen at least one case.
The biggest concentration of outbreaks appeared to be in central London. Almost all care homes in Camden, Hammersmith and Tower Hamlets reported residents contracting Covid-19.
The north-east of England is also experiencing a high number of infections, with 39% of care homes suffering from an outbreak.
Sixty-two of Sheffield’s 116 care homes have reported infections among their residents, or 53%.
Meanwhile Rayleigh and Rochford are the only parts of mainland England to have had no known outbreaks in their care homes.
Covid-19 is most lethal to those of an older age. The median age of English patients confirmed with the virus has been 60.
The estimated rate of death by a team of UK researchers to be 0.66% overall, but near 8% for those over the age of 80.
New figures from the Care Quality Commission reveal the death toll from Covid-19 in care homes to be rapidly increasing.
From 10 to 24 April, care homes across England and Wales saw 4,343 Covid-19 related deaths, up from 1,043 as of 10 April.
It is not yet known whether the care homes in the new data have recovered from their outbreaks.