Coronavirus: Latest number of Covid-19 deaths at Peterborough care homes revealed

That is despite a drop in the weekly number of care home deaths involving Covid-19 nationally.

While the number rose in Cambridgeshire, the figures for Peterborough are more in line with the national trend, as the number of deaths rose by a much smaller percentage.

Data released on Tuesday shows there were 50 recorded deaths involving Covid-19 in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough care homes between April 10 and May 1.

For the most recent week of data, April 25 to May 1, broken down by local authority area, the number of deaths in Cambridgeshire excluding Peterborough was double the number recorded in the two previous weeks.

The ONS started releasing weekly figures beginning from April 10.

The number of deaths involving Covid-19 recorded in care homes in Peterborough rose by two in the week April 25 to May 1, rising to 12 for the period between April 10 and May 1.

But in the rest of the county the number of recorded deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes more than doubled, from 17 to 38. The data shows there were 18 deaths between April 10 and April 24 – one more than for the same period in previous statistical releases, which the ONS said could be due to delays in recording.

Between April 25 and May 1 there were 20 deaths involving Covid-19 recorded in care homes in Cambridgeshire, excluding Peterborough. More than double the total of the two previous weeks.

There were nine deaths recorded on one day – April 28 – the most for Cambridgeshire care homes in the figures available.

There were 148 deaths recorded in Cambridgeshire care homes in total between April 10 and May 1, and 48 in Peterborough for the same period.

There were 6,391 deaths involving Covid-19 recorded in England as a whole in the same period, and 16,662 deaths in total, including all causes of death.

Nationally, the statistics show the number of deaths involving Covid-19 in care homes dropped in the week ending May 1, to 2,044, down from 2,379 the week before, but still more than the 1,873 the week before that, ending April 17.

The ONS said the figures were provided by the Care Quality Commission and are provisional, and may be subject to revision as more data comes in.

Figures are for persons who were resident in and died in a care home.

The CQC uses a different criteria of recording a death involving Covid-19 to other data provided by the ONS.

The CQC includes deaths where the care home provider has stated Covid-19 as a suspected or confirmed cause of death on the death notification. The ONS Covid-19 deaths registered data, including care homes, includes deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate. As a consequence, the data and subsequent death figures vary.

Ben Hatton, Local Democracy Reporting Service