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About half of COVID-19 deaths are reportedly in care homes

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Persis

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Around half of deaths from COVID-19 are happening in care homes, according to data from some European countries.

Figures from five European countries suggest that care home residents have accounted for between 42% and 57% of all deaths related to COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

The figures are contained in a report by academics at the London School of Economics, which focuses on Italy, Spain, France, Ireland and Belgium.

This would suggest that the daily figures announced by the UK government are vastly under-estimated, as they only include deaths in hospitals where a patient had tested positive for the virus.

Almost two million people worldwide have been infected with the disease and around 120,000 have died after testing positive for it, according to data from US university Johns Hopkins.

On Monday, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said 13.5% of the UK’s care homes had at least one resident with a confirmed case of coronavirus, up from 9% the previous week.

But the figures from Europe, taken between 6 and 11 April, suggest a higher rate of infection and fatality from the disease.

Source: sky.com

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