Covid-Related Care Home Resident Deaths Continue To Fall

The number of COVID-19 related deaths in care homes continues to decline sharply according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS)

According to its latest weekly update covering the week ending 12 March, the ONS said Covid -related deaths in care homes were down by more than a third to 249, the sixth weekly decrease from the peak of almost 2,000 deaths at the height of the second wave in January.

The latest figure is the lowest since the week ending 5 November (week 44, 2020).

Between Weeks 9 (week ending March 5) and 10 (week ending March 12), the number of deaths involving COVID-19 decreased in hospitals (391 fewer), care homes (134 fewer), private homes (62 fewer), hospices (17 fewer) and other communal establishments (1 fewer).

Deaths involving COVID-19 in hospitals as a proportion of all deaths in hospitals fell to 22.5% in Week 10 (28.2% in Week 9). Deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes accounted for 12.5% of deaths, a decrease from Week 9 (17.4%).

As well as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) provides numbers of deaths involving COVID-19 in care homes in England that are based on the date the death was notified to the CQC. From 10 April 2020 (the first day when data were collected using the CQC’s new method of identifying deaths involving COVID-19) to 19 March 2021, there were 28,810 deaths of residents in care homes involving COVID-19. Of these deaths, 97 were notified in the week up to 19 March 2021