Four more Shropshire coronavirus deaths as UK toll nears 15,000
Four more coronavirus patients have today been confirmed to have died in Shropshire.
NHS England said three more patients had died in the care of Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH), as well as another being looked after by Shropshire Community Health Trust.
It means 58 patients have now died at the county's major health organisations – 55 at SaTH, two at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital near Oswestry and now one at the community health trust.
The trust runs community hospitals in Bridgnorth, Ludlow, Whitchurch and Bishop's Castle and a health centre in Oswestry.
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In the UK the number of Covid-19 patients to have died today increased by 847 to 14,576.
NHS England said the most recent figures show 738 had died in English hospitals.
Of the 738, 30 had no known underlying health condition, the youngest of which was 34.
The true death toll in Shropshire, and across the UK, is likely to be far higher due to the fact the daily NHS updates only include hospital deaths.
Many elderly people are believed to have died in care homes across the country but the low level of testing means the extent of the pandemic's impact across communities is not known.
Several care home residents have died in Shropshire after showing coronavirus symptoms, including six at one home in Kinlet.
The latest death figures were announced as a leading doctor warned Britain will face “further waves” of Covid-19 and will probably have the highest death rate in Europe because the Government was “too slow” to act.
Professor Anthony Costello, of University College London’s Institute for Global Health, told a committee of MPs that the “harsh reality” is that “we were too slow with a number of things” and deaths could reach to 40,000.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has announced that testing will be expanded to those in the police, fire service and prisons, as well as critical local authority workers, the judiciary and Department for Work and Pensions staff where required.
It follows criticism of a gulf between those being tested and the testing capacity, with just 18,665 tests being conducted in the 24 hours up to 9am on Thursday, despite 38,000 tests being available.
Figures released on Friday showed 21,328 people were tested in the country in the 24 hours up to 9am on Friday.
Meanwhile a coronavirus assessment centre has been set up at Telford International Centre where people with symptoms will be able to be checked, but not tested.
