ALMOST 20,000 care home residents in Wales and England have died with coronavirus, the majority dying in their care home, official figures show.

Death certificates for 19,394 residents mentioned “novel coronavirus” between March 2 and June 12, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Covid-19 accounted for 29 per cent of the deaths of care home residents over this period and a fifth of all deaths of care home residents this year.

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The latest data includes all care home residents who died with coronavirus either at their care home or in hospital.

This pushes the overall care home resident death figure 32 per cent higher than the 14,658 deaths in care homes reported by the ONS on Tuesday.

Three-quarters (74.9 per cent) of residents died in their care home, while a quarter (24.8 per cent) died in hospital, the figures show.

Some 65 residents, representing 0.3 per cent of the total, died in a separate location such as a private home or hospice.

The ONS care home resident figures show the daily number of deaths peaked in England on April 17, when a total of 515 deaths occurred (413 in care homes, 100 in hospitals and two in other locations).

The highest number of deaths was recorded in south-east England (3,222), followed by north-west England (2,939) and Yorkshire & the Humber (2,099).

The lowest number was recorded in Wales (826), followed by south-west England (1,475) and the East Midlands (1,485).

Among male care home residents, Covid-19 was the leading cause of death across the period for all age groups, accounting for a third (33.5 per cent) of all deaths, followed by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (24.7 per cent).

For female care home residents, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease was the leading cause of death (33.8 per cent of deaths), followed by Covid-19 (26.6 per cent).

Coronavirus was the leading cause of death in female care home residents aged under 80, with dementia and Alzheimer’s the leading cause for older women.