Deaths, Infections, Lockdowns – How Covid Went From Bad To Worse This Week
Amid a constant stream of news, it can be near-impossible to keep track of where we are with coronavirus.
But infection rates, hospitalisations, contact tracing and the death toll are all vital to our understanding of the virus and how we’re tackling it – even if they can be difficult to find.
To help you make sense of it all, here are the most recent updates and statistics we have on Covid-19:
Highest number of Covid outbreaks now in care homes
Care homes are now the setting for the highest number of coronavirus outbreaks, data published by Public Health England suggest.
The most recent numbers show 1,392 “acute respiratory infection incidents” (ARI) in the past week – that’s what you and I would call “outbreaks”, or instances where two or more confirmed cases have been linked to a particular place or event. This is up from 1,125 in the previous week.
Of those, a total of 397 incidents were identified in care homes, while the second highest number of outbreaks – 334 – was recorded in workplace settings.
There were 311 outbreaks identified in educational settings such as schools and universities.
Death toll tops 300 twice
Twice this week the UK’s Covid-19 death toll topped 300, with 310 deaths recorded on October 28 and 367 recorded on October 27 – the highest figure since May 28.
The most recent figures, published on Thursday, show that 280 deaths had been registered in 24 hours, with 214 in England, 21 in Wales, 37 in Scotland and eight in Northern Ireland.
More than 4,000 people have now died of Covid-19 in the second wave of the pandemic, with the nation far surpassing an earlier warning by chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance that the country could see 200 coronavirus deaths a day by mid-November.
To date, 45,955 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive Covid test.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics also show that 58,925 people in the UK have died with Covid-19 on their death...
