LONDON, England (AP) — Leading British charities said the new coronavirus is causing “devastation” in the country’s nursing homes, as official statistics showed yesterday that hundreds more people with COVID-19 have died than are recorded in the Government’s daily tally.

The Office for National Statistics said 5,979 deaths that occurred in England up to April 3 involved COVID-19 — 15 per cent more than the 5,186 deaths announced by the National Health Service for the same period.

The Government, up to yesterday, reported 12,107 deaths in the UK of people with the new coronavirus.

That total, updated daily, only includes people who died in hospitals. The higher figure, published weekly by the statistics office, includes deaths in all settings including nursing homes, and cases where coronavirus was suspected, but not tested for.

Caroline Abrahams, director of the charity Age UK, said the Government’s daily figures “are airbrushing older people out like they don’t matter”.

Age UK and other charities have written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock calling social care “the neglected front line” in the pandemic.

“We are appalled by the devastation which coronavirus is causing in the care system, and we have all been inundated with desperate calls from the people we support, so we are demanding a comprehensive care package to support social care through the pandemic,” said the charities, which include Care England and the Alzheimer’s Society.

The statistics office said that up to April 3 just under 10 per cent of deaths involving COVID-19 occurred outside hospitals. It said there were 217 deaths involving the virus in care homes in the week ending April 3, a ten-fold increase from the previous week.

The true toll in nursing homes may not be clear for weeks. France, which has approximately the same population as Britain, has included nursing home deaths since early this month. Of its official tally of 14,000 coronavirus deaths, more than 5,000 are in nursing homes or long-term care facilities for the disabled.

The UK Government says outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported at one in eight UK care homes. But care home operators and staff say that figure likely underestimates the true toll in facilities that house some of the country’s oldest and most vulnerable people, cared for by often overworked and poorly paid staff.

David Behan, chairman of home operator HC-One, said cases of the new coronavirus had been reported in 232 of the firm’s homes — two-thirds of the total. He said 311 residents and one staff member have died as a result of confirmed or suspected COVID-19.

“COVID-19 deaths are representative of about just under a third of all deaths that we’ve had over the past three weeks,” he told the BBC.

Anita Astle, manager of the Wren Hall Care Home in central England, said the toll on her staff was “horrendous”.

“We’re seeing people die prematurely, and that’s really hard to watch,” she told ITV. “We’ve had nine deaths, and [with] each death it’s getting harder to do what we’re doing.

“This is not good death,” she said. “People are away from their loved ones. Normally care homes around the country are places that are buzzing with joy and excitement and at the moment they’re empty — visitors, families, aren’t coming in.”

Like many care homes across the country, Astle said hers had struggled to get adequate protective equipment for staff. Many homes are also experiencing staff shortages as many workers fall ill or have to self-isolate.

Britain’s Conservative Government is facing criticism for many aspects of its response to the pandemic, including the limited amount of testing being done for the virus and delays in getting protective equipment to medics and care workers.

The Government insists it is rectifying those mistakes. It has vowed to conduct 100,000 tests a day by the end of April — a more than five-fold increase on current rates — and has begun testing health care workers so that those who have been self-isolating but are free of the disease can return to work.

Care home workers are now also being offered tests, but only 505 have been tested so far, compared to 47,000 health care staff, the Government said.

“We are constantly trying to get more support to the social care sector, and we do acknowledge that more needs to be done,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack.

Worldwide, more than 1.9 million infections have been reported and over 119,000 people have died.

Liz Kendall, social care spokeswoman for the main Opposition Labour Party, said the real number of UK deaths would “sadly be even worse” than the figures up to April 3 and called on the Government to publish the statistics daily.

Ros Altmann, a former Government minister, who campaigns for older people, said frail elderly people were being overlooked in the pandemic.

“We must not forget that the mark of a civilised society must reflect how it treats its most vulnerable and oldest citizens,” she said.

Meanwhile, the UK Government’s independent economic watchdog said the economy could shrink by a third between April and June if the country’s lockdown, imposed March 23, lasts for three months.

The Office for Budget Responsibility said 3.4 million people, or 10 per cent of the workforce, could become unemployed, while public sector net borrowing could reach four per cent of gross domestic product, the biggest deficit since World War II.