About 25 per cent more people have died from coronavirus than had previously been thought, new data suggests. Dozens of deaths at home or in care homes are not being counted in NHS daily updates, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) says. In England and Wales in the week ending March 20, there were 210 deaths where coronavirus was reported to have contributed, 40 more than in previously published totals, the most complete data from the ONS shows. Since then, the confirmed death toll has risen to 1,408, suggesting that hundreds more people might have died of Covid-19 last week. Sarah Caul, the head of mortality analysis at the ONS, said: “Knowing the exact number of people whose death involved coronavirus is of great importance,

Source: The Times March 31, 2020 11:06 UTC