Latest figures show five new COVID-19 related deaths at West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust

There have been five new coronavirus deaths at the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust in the past 24 hours, the latest official figures show.

NHS England figures show 272 people had died in hospital at the West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust as of 5pm on Tuesday, April 28.

Of 23 trusts within the region, the West Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust, which manages Hemel Hempstead Hospital, Watford General Hospital and St Albans City Hospital, has the highest death toll.

There have been 110 coronavirus deaths at East and North Hertfordshire Trust and eight at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and seven at the Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust.

Office for National statistics data shows that in Dacorum, 60 deaths involving Covid-19 were provisionally registered up to April 25 – up from 39 the week before.

This only includes deaths that occurred up to April 17 which were registered up to eight days later.

Of those, 11 occurred in care homes and three at private homes. A further death occurred in hospices, another community establishment or elsewhere.

The figures released from Public Health England show that there are 19 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Hertfordshire in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 2,202.

But the true number of cases is thought to be far higher with many people not being tested.

Nationally, the number of coronavirus cases now stands at 165,221 (includes tests carried out by commercial partners which are not included in the country totals), rising by 4,076. The number of COVID-19 associated UK deaths in has been recorded as 26,097 - according to Public Health England.

The number of deaths are people who have had a positive test result confirmed by a Public Health or NHS laboratory.

The figures for the number of patients recovered from COVID-19 have not been released by Public Health England.

All the figures refer only to people who have been tested by a Public Health or NHS labratory. The true extent of infection among the wider public, who have no access to testing kits, is as yet unknown.

The new figures were recorded between 5pm on Monday and 5pm on Tuesday.

National care home operators say they fear the sector will become the most affected area of society in terms of Covid-19 fatalities, while the Local Government Association called the number of deaths outside hospital across England and Wales "truly shocking."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced that from April 29, the Government will publish daily data on deaths from coronavirus in cares homes and the community, as well as those in hospitals.

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group (ICG), said those in care and nursing homes across the country who have died "deserve better".

He said: "Due to the lag in collating figures, we do fear that the true number of people who have died in care and nursing homes since the start of coronavirus may be higher than these figures suggest. It may well be that they are increasing whilst hospital deaths are falling.

"Social care providers are now on the true front line in the fight against Covid-19 and we need more support."

The ONS and CQC’s weekly series includes data with a time lag of up to 11 days, and includes suspected cases of coronavirus as denoted on death certificates. Tomorrow’s data will be accurate as of today and will only include those cases confirmed through testing.