more light has been shed today on the
human cost of the corona virus pandemic
across the United Kingdom the latest
official figures for the first time
include all deaths linked to the virus
including those in care homes and other
community settings and they show that
the pandemic has so far claimed nearly
4,000 more lives than were being
recorded under the previous system now
the latest figure over a 24 hour period
is 765 deaths across the UK it means
that the total number of deaths so far
in the UK of those who tested positive
for coronavirus is now 26 thousand and
97 our health editor Hugh Pym has been
studying these new figures and explains
the implications happier times for betty
celebrating her 97th birthday she's now
in critical care in hospital with
coronavirus her daughter Andrea says she
picked up the virus in a nursing home
and testing at an earlier stage for
residents and staff might have kept her
safe I think it's a bit late I think
that coronavirus if the truth be known
is endemic in our nursing homes and the
people that are going to suffer the most
are the elderly in the vulnerable not to
mention the staff testing for all care
home residents and staff including those
without symptoms has now been made
available either with kits sent to the
homes or mobile units visiting them
managers say they need help running the
testing and it's urgently needed I do
think that there is a tsunami of deaths
that we that we probably we may have
been able to avoid should we have had
this testing an awful lot earlier
because the elderly do not they don't
present in the classic way they don't
normally have rip-roaring temperatures
they can be it can be quite insidious
they just a bit off-color I asked about
the new care home testing plan at the
Downing Street media briefing couldn't
testing really have started sooner than
know the scale and the speed of this
epidemic is really in the last couple of
weeks and
is a huge national and local endeavor to
both not just test which is very
important but to also understand the
measures that would make a difference in
care homes and to look at that in a very
rapid way looking at the evidence so
that we can put in place measures that
protect people drive through testing or
home kits have been made available to
millions of others with symptoms
including Heather who did her swab test
at Taunton today because I'm a private
carer I work for myself so I couldn't
get tested before today and it is really
important not for me but also for my
clients over 65s qualify for testing as
well like Mark and Anthea well we both
have the symptoms for a few days and so
therefore we really wanted to get
checked that symptoms hadn't increased
so we didn't need to phone the
one-one-one but as soon as the tests for
over 65s which we are came available we
were quite happy to come and have the
test home test kits can be ordered
online but only by those with symptoms
we haven't opened the packaging of this
one so it is safe for future use there
are a couple of different types of home
testing kit this is one of them before
you do anything you need to register
online and book the free courier
collection service to come and pick it
up then you take the swab sample from
your nose and throat put it in the
plastic container and then the packaging
and it's ready to be collected slots for
drive-through tests have been in high
demand home test kits ran out earlier
today but with new supplies are booked
Abul again this evening the health
secretary Matt Hancock has set a target
of a hundred thousand tests a day by the
end of this month and that's tomorrow
q PM BBC News well in Scotland more than
half of deaths linked to coronavirus are
now happening in care homes according to
the latest figures from the national
records of Scotland
our correspondent Lorna Gordon is in
Glasgow with the latest details for us
issue these figures show that the number
of people dying from confirmed or
suspected coronavirus in care homes has
overtaken the number of people dying in
hospitals here in
Gotland for the first time since the
outbreak began just over a third of all
covert related deaths in Scotland have
been in care homes but week on weeks of
the number of deaths and care homes has
continued to rise and that means that
the figures show that in the seven days
up to Sunday more than half of all those
who've been dying from confirmed or
suspected coronavirus were care home
residents that equates to one kovat
related death in a care home every 30
minutes while Scotland's First Minister
Nicola Sturgeon said the proportion of
deaths was deeply distressing she said
it was broadly in line with what's being
reported in other countries she also
today outlined the measures that's been
taken to health care homes opposition
parties here though are calling for the
Scottish Government to go further with
its support for homes but I think what
these figures show along with the news
that another set of care homes their
skin care homes for ex-service men and
women reported that they've lost 24 of
their residents to suspected coronavirus
this confirms that if the virus does
take hold in a care home it can be
devastating lorna many thanks again
Lorna Gordon there for us in Glasgow
with me in the studio is our social
affairs correspondent Allison holt and
four weeks Alison you've been talking
about the situation and the threat of
the kind of crisis we're seeing now in
care homes so if I was to ask you for
the main factors which have led to this
crisis what would they be
well it's first off important to
remember that we are talking about
Cairns looking after some of the most
vulnerable older and disabled people in
society and across Europe there have
been issues over a high number of deaths
in care homes but in England in
particular this is a system that has
been under pressure underfunded and in
crisis for a long time now it's also
fragmented more than 15,000 care homes
some are privately owned some
not-for-profits a few run by local
authorities more than 400,000 residents
about half pay for their own care about
half are publicly funded so it is
complicated and when I look back at my
reports right at the beginning of all of
this we had
providers saying of PPE our protective
equipment is being diverted to the NHS
we need more testing of staff and
residents and their voices have become
increasingly desperate as the weeks of
going on
unlike the NHS there is no single
powerful voice for social care
no one arguing their case no one shaping
a national response to a national crisis
and whilst the increase in testing
that's coming now is welcome
there are many care providers who say
it's simply too late and in time there
will be some really important questions
we need to ask about what needs to be
done differently how we integrate Social
Care into a wider health and care system
and properly recognize what they do I
listen many thanks again I was not there
for us our social affairs correspondent