The United Kingdom’s death toll from Covid-19 climbed to the second highest in Europe on Wednesday after the government finally included people who died in care homes and the wider community in its fatality figures.
Health officials had previously only counted people who died in hospital after testing positive for the illness in its official stats, leading many to allege that Britons weren’t being given the full picture.
Public Health England released figures on Wednesday that cover fatalities in all settings, including in nursing homes. The stats show that some 26,097 people died after testing positive for the novel coronavirus in the UK.
That fatality count means that the UK has had more Covid-19-related deaths than France and Spain and is behind only the United States and Italy on the global scale.
“These more complete data will give us a fuller and more up to date picture of deaths in England and will inform the government’s approach as we continue to protect the public,” Public Health England’s medical director, Yvonne Doyle, said.
Meanwhile, as Covid-19 commands the focus of the UK’s public health efforts, a new study has warned that a lack of diagnostics and treatment could cause a dramatic spike in additional cancer deaths.
Researchers say that the Covid-19 outbreak could indirectly lead to more than 17,900 extra cancer deaths within a year, including 6,270 fatal cases in newly diagnosed cancer patients.
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