Coronavirus: How many people have lost their lives in Dacorum's care homes?

Coronavirus has been linked to the deaths of at least 23 people in Dacorum care homes since the start of the crisis, new figures reveal.

Office for National Statistics data shows that 129 deaths involving Covid-19 were provisionally registered in Dacorum up to October 17.

Nationally, the death toll has been 'recalculated' by officials. The new count is based on a new definition of who has died from Covid-19.

Previously, people in England who died at any stage following a positive test, regardless of the cause of their death, were counted in the figures.

However, there is now a cut off point of 28 days from the first laboratory-confirmed positive COVID test, which could account for the higher number of deaths recorded by the Office for National Statistics.

Of those deaths, 33 occurred outside hospital – including 23 in care homes and six at private homes. A further four deaths occurred in hospices, other community establishments or elsewhere.

It means there was one care home death recorded since July 18.

Meanwhile, there was one more death in a private home over the period.

The Independent Care Group called for a "short, sharp lockdown" to curb the spread of infection in care homes nationally, as fatalities in care homes across England and Wales rose for the fifth week in a row.

Across England and Wales, 53,789 deaths involving Covid-19 were provisionally registered up to October 17. Of those, 29% (15,747) were in care homes and just under two-thirds in hospital.

In the week ending October 9, there were 63 care home deaths across the two countries which mentioned "novel coronavirus" on the death certificate. That was the fifth consecutive weekly increase and the largest number seen since July, although the ONS said this was still below pre-pandemic levels.

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group, said: "We are now starting to see more significant increases in the number of Covid-19 deaths in care and nursing homes and we have to act quickly.

"At the moment we have people travelling all over the place, from areas of high infection rate to low areas, so the virus is bound to spread and spread.

"It is regrettable, but I feel the only way is to lockdown again and protect our oldest and most vulnerable in particular, until we can regain control."

Deaths in all settings have steadily risen across England and Wales amid soaring positive case numbers – 438 Covid-related fatalities were registered in the seven days to October 9, the largest rise in a single week since early July.

Sarah Scobie, deputy director of research at the Nuffield Trust health think tank, said it is not a surprising to see the number of deaths attributed to Covid-19 creep upwards, as more areas of the country face stricter curbs on socialising.

Meanwhile, the NHS Confederation said it is too early to tell whether the Government’s interventions are having an impact.

Nick Ville, director of policy, said: “Some hospitals are already having to scale back the number of non-urgent procedures they are able to perform and plan for because of growing cases of the disease."

In the three months to October 17 in Dacorum:

- Deaths outside hospital increased by three, climbing to a total of 33

- Hospital deaths increased by two to 96

- The overall death toll climbed by five.