England, Scotland, and Wales have announced 757 more deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, taking Britain’s total number of victims to 18,094.
A further 665 people have died in England’s NHS hospitals and 92 more deaths were recorded in Scotland and Wales overnight.
A full round-up for the UK is expected this afternoon from the Department of Health and will adjust the figures downwards to match up different reporting periods.
But the coronavirus outbreak in the UK may have killed more than 41,000 people already when non-hospital deaths are included.
An analysis of backdated statistics by the Financial Times has predicted that, by the time care home deaths and unrecorded hospital fatalities are added up, it could emerge that 41,102 people had died by April 21. The official toll was 17,337.
Meanwhile the National Records of Scotland revealed in a bombshell report today that the true scale of its coronavirus deaths is 79 percent larger than government statistics show – a third of all people dying with the virus are dying in care homes.
The National Records data adjusted the total number of victims in Scotland to 1,616, by which time only 903 had been officially announced. 537 of them died in homes.
A similar surge is emerging in England, too, and a statement from the Department of Health and Care Quality Commission this morning said at least 2,000 people are thought to have died over the Easter weekend and to not yet have been counted.
The two organisations said officials expect a ‘significant increase’ in the number of deaths reported from nursing homes in the coming days and weeks.