Deaths in england and wales have risen sharply new figures show theyve hit a 20 year high they also reveal more than 1,000 covid related deaths recorded at care homes in the week before easter last week, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings. Now, we are seeing over 1000. Well be assessing the latest figures from the office for National Statistics also this lunchtime. As the number of victims grow relentlessly Health Workers, too, find themselves mourning the loss of colleagues and friends the tragic story of barbara one of many disabled Covid Patients to be transferred to hospital where she had to face death without family or friends the collapse in oil prices at one point producers were paying
others to take barrels off them. But will it mean cheaper petrol at the pumps . And portraits of nhs heroes. The artists who decided to celebrate the work of Health Care Workers by painting them and in sport, a government adviser says a possible link between coronavirus and Liverpools Champions League match against Atletico Madrid needs to be investigated. Good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. The figures are already out of date but theyre no less shocking for that. In the week up to easter deaths in england and wales hit a 20 year high with 8,000 more people dying than would be regarded as normal at this time of year. And care homes are at the sharp end of these figures from the office for National Statistics with more than 1,000 covid related deaths. So lots of tough questions for the government as parliament gets back to Business Today with many still about the availability of Personal Protective Equipment and the need for more testing. This report from our Health Correspondent richard galpin. For those living in care homes gcioss for those living in care homes across england and wales, the figures are particularly bleak. The number of deaths, shooting up. And all this, mostly due to coronavirus. In total, the office for National Statistics says in england and wales, coronavirus was involved in 1662 deaths outside hospitals, in the week ending on good friday. The vast majority of those debts, 10111, was in care homes. Also, 466 people
died at home, 87 in hospices. We look at the care home number, i know thats a source of real focus at the moment, last week, that was about deaths in the care home setting, now 13 , based on death registrations. In terms of numbers, lastly, we were looking at 217 deaths that had been registered up to the 3rd of april in ca re registered up to the 3rd of april in care home settings, now we are seeing over 1000. There are more than 400,000 elderly and disabled people in care homes in england alone. They are amongst the most vulnerable and the virus has already spread into many of these homes. We a lwa ys spread into many of these homes. We always had hoped that the figures would be less but i think there is more and more evidence that they may be more. I mean, it is disappointing, disappointing for the families, its disappointing for the carers who have done their utmost to
contain this within very difficult circumstances. But certainly, if wed had the testing in place, if wed had the testing in place, if wed had the testing in place, if wed had been part of the Contingency Planning at the very beginning, we may have been able to mitigate some of the figures we are looking at today. Another big issue being discussed today is whether all of us should wear masks when we are outside. So we cannot spread coronavirus. Scientists advising the government have been debating this morning whether there is sufficient evidence it would be beneficial. There are concerns it could jeopardise supplies Health Workers. At this point we do not have accurate scientific steer that it would be right to broaden this to the general population and we would obviously bear in mind representations from nhs providers about the need to prioritise supply where it can do the most good. There have also been developments today on rolling out testing for all front line workers. 27 of these drive in
testing centres are now up and running across the country. Besides Health Workers, teachers, police, prison officers and others, can now get tested for the virus. Theres huge progress being made building lab capacity so there is a plan to deliver that level of lab capacity. We now have a number of ways of meeting demand and matching that capacity to demand but the real aim is to secure the testing capability that the country needs. And im confident we have that and we will be able to allow the country to respond with the testing that is required. The government has pledged to scale up the programme to 100,000 tests a day by the end of this month. Whether thats possible is not something the new Testing Coordinator would answer. Richard galpin, bbc news. Our head of statistics robert cuffe is here. These figures are bad but in reality, could actually be worse . Yes, they are from the weekjust before easter and normally we see the death registrations go down a little bit in that week. It could maybe be a little bit higher but look at the figures throughout the year, we will see just how striking they are. The great kind of line you canjust they are. The great kind of line you can just about see is what we would normally see. Up until maybe march, the red line, the number of deaths being reported every week, were a little bit lower than what weve been seeing in the years up until 110w been seeing in the years up until now but in the last two weeks you can really see, itjumps up very high, we would be expecting about 10,000 deaths a week this time of year, last week 16,000, this week 18 and a half thousand. Similar gems in scotland, and northern ireland, not quite so high there but this leap, pretty significant, most of it, covid 19 mentioned on the death certificate, 80 of cases but not all cases and that speaks to may be some undiagnosed coronavirus or other strains and indirect causes of death because of the stress coronavirus is putting on the Health Service and society at large. You
have been crunching the numbers, is there any cause for hope . The ons figures are pretty grim reading but look at a different analysis done by nhs england, look at the number of deaths they see and on the date those deaths occur, that tells a slightly different picture. The last four bars to the right, they are not going to tell us the full story because not all those deaths that happened in those days had been reported, they could come up a little bit but we are starting to see analysis from statisticians that say, think about the average lifetime, by how much could these bars come up and its probably not as high as that peak we were hitting the week before easter, from which this ons analysis refers to so its quite possible we are past the peak in deaths in hospitals in england, at least. The ons figures say the peak was pretty bad, these figures suggest maybe we are past it. Robert, thank you. Our assistant Political Editor norman smith is at westminster. As we were hearing norman, some
pretty grim figures and pretty tough questions for the government . There really are a whole of increasingly urgent questions facing the government over its handling of coronavirus. Why, for example, we are still facing shortages of protective clothing or nurses. Why the government is still miles adrift from its target of 100,000 tests a day and what on earth is going on in oui day and what on earth is going on in our care homes with these truly terrifying figures from the ons today which, albeit these are out of date figures but if you look at their take on a two weeks ago there we re their take on a two weeks ago there were just 20 coronavirus deaths in ca re were just 20 coronavirus deaths in care homes. Last there were 217. This week there are more than 1000, so this week there are more than 1000, 03 this week there are more than 1000, so a fivefold increase in a week and that may just be so a fivefold increase in a week and that mayjust be the tip of the iceberg. Because anecdotally, their home bosses say once the virus gets in care homes, it is spreading like wildfire because very obviously, youve got elderly, vulnerable people, all cooped up together, many of them suffering from dementia,
terribly hard to self isolate them. You got significant numbers of staff going in and out of care homes. There is a high risk of the virus getting into those homes. Today, those questions are basically being left to journalists to ask at the daily downing street news conference, from today parliament is back, not as we know it, its going to bea back, not as we know it, its going to be a sort of hybrid, virtual parliament, there will be mps in the chamber but most of the questions are going to be asked by video conferencing, through soon and it will be a truncated form of parliament, only two hours a day, three days a week. But at long last, mps will get the chance to hold this government to account. Over its handling of coronavirus. Norman, thank you. As the number of victims of covid 19 continues to grow relentlessly Health Workers, too, find themselves mourning the loss of colleagues and friends. Daniela relph reports their stories are of compassion and care across a range ofjobs. They are the growing list of Health Care Workers who have lost their lives to the virus they were helping to treat. The anguish of their families is acute, the tributes of the work colleagues fulsome. Manjeet singh riyat was an accident and emergency consultant at the royal derby hospital. He died on monday. He was 52. He was the uks first sikh a e consultant and a much loved doctor. A fellow consultant at the hospital described him as the father of the Emergency Department in derby and an inspiration to others. Absolutely fabulous man, inspirational. Inspirational on the shop floor, loved a clinical challenge, had a massive intellect, encyclopedic knowledge. He was an inspiration to many junior doctors. Paramedic Gerallt Davies had worked for the Welsh Ambulance service for 26 years. At the weekend he became the first paramedic in wales to die after contracting coronavirus. He was 51. Last week, sonya kaygan died in hospital in london after spending two weeks in intensive care. She was a care home worker and just 26 years old. For herfamily, there is now grief and questions. Whether they have ppe now, i can say that my cousin didnt at the time, and she was wearing just a general mask and gloves that she would wear before the pandemic. So nothing really changed in terms of the way that she was protected at work during this time. And its incredibly frustrating for all of us because carers need this attention. You know, my cousin is 26 years old. This could have been prevented. She was too young to lose her life. They are just a few of the front line workers who have died. They represent a group of people who stepped up to help others suffering and who have themselves lost their lives. Theirfamilies, friends and colleagues want their sacrifice remembered. Daniela relph, bbc news. Dentists in england say a shortage of protective equipment is hampering their efforts to treat patients at new urgent care hubs set up to deal with emergencies while practices are closed. The British Dental Association says patients with urgent problems are being forced to take matters into their own hands. Danjohnsons report does contain some graphic images. Sorry about that, we had to extract that but i will return to it a little later. Oil prices have bounced back after they turned negative yesterday for the first time in history. Negative prices meant Oil Producers were paying buyers to take oil off their hands over fears that Storage Capacity could run out. Will it mean dramatic falls in pump prices . You perhaps wont be surprised to hear probably not as andy verity reports. If the world s is producing more
oil than it is using the price will tend to drop and in the worldwide economic shutdown to fight off coronavirus, thats exactly what has happened. As ships stay in ports, aeroplanes on the ground and cars in driveways, demand for oil has dropped by roughly 30 to 70 Million Barrels a day, while all producers like saudi arabia and russia have got production, its only by about 10 million a day. With far more oil being produced and used, storage is running out. Ive been doing this for 25 years and ive never seen, there we are. Its unprecedented. Absolutely unprecedented times and the speed of the drop is the other thing. What suppliers will slowly 110w thing. What suppliers will slowly now have to do, you know, in north america, nazi producers in the uk, they will have to either stop production or totally slow it up. Traders of us oil were caught out yesterday, they had agreed contracts to buy oilfor delivery yesterday, they had agreed contracts to buy oil for delivery next month but couldnt physically take delivery because there was nowhere
to store it. They had to sell no matter what the price. At first the main us measure of the cost of a barrel of oilfor main us measure of the cost of a barrel of oil for delivery next month below zero for the first time and stay there overnight. The contract expired yesterday and that means whoever holds those contracts at that time physically has to take delivery of the oil. Now in a lot of cases those are traders that never intended to take delivery of the oil, theyve been caught out by the current Economic Situation and found themselves in a situation they had contracts for oil that they could not store so they needed to off load them very quickly. While other measures of the cost of oil such as a barrel from the north sea are still above 20 dollars, the record in the us prompted an investment recommendation from the white house. If we could buy up are nothing we are going to take everything we can get. The only thing i like better than that is when they pay you to ta ke than that is when they pay you to take the oil, this is a great time to buy oil. The president might struggle to find somewhere to put his crew. Oil producers are now hiring tigers not to transport it
but keep oil but no one wants. Even in these unprecedented times you cant expect petrol retailers u nfortu nately to start cant expect petrol retailers unfortunately to start paying you to ta ke unfortunately to start paying you to take the stuff of them, partly because most of the price of a litre of unleaded is duty and vat and then theyve got the refining costs stop in spite of that, some retailers do anticipate that the price of a litre of petrol will drop below £1 a litre in the coming weeks. The last time the oil price rapidly dropped was in 2016 as new shale Oil Producers in texas oversupplied the market. Now though the price is so low that many of them cannot cover their costs and are likely to go out of business. Andy verity, bbc news. Donald trump says he will sign an executive order temporarily suspending immigration into the united states. Gary odonoghue is in washington. He also has one state saying it plans to reopen soon. Notjust one,
actually, but georgia on friday is planning to open, or allow a lot of businesses to open, with some restrictions. But for example, on friday you will be able to go to the bowling alley, should you wish to. On friday you will be able to get a haircut if you wish to come out if you really want to you will be able to get a tattoo on friday. And come monday restaurants and theatres will also open. Other sorts of openings starting to take place in places like texas as well as tennessee. Gary, thank you very much. Gary odonoghue in washington. Lets return to that story on dentists in england who say a shortage of protective equipment is hampering their efforts to treat patients at newer urgent care hubs, set up to deal with emergencies while practices are closed. The British Dental Association says patients with urgent problems are being forced to take matters into their own hands. Danjohnsons report does contain some graphic images. This dentist is at work but not
working. Weve got all the equipment to treat people. He hasnt seen a patient for ages. All im allowed to do is give prescriptions out. I saw a patient last. About three weeks ago. The problem is protective equipment. The usual kit isnt good enough to protect against the virus and work in close up, face to face, dentists are especially vulnerable. Face to face without the appropriate ppe is not advisable, using the dental drill spreads an aerosol spray of particles. I didnt know how hard it would be to take out a molar. Some patients are resorting to diy afterfailing molar. Some patients are resorting to diy after failing to get treatment. They basically said unless it is stopping you from breathing that they couldnt do anything, there is no point coming in unlessl anything, there is no point coming in unless i literally couldnt breathe properly. This wasnt the case but the pain nevertheless was absolutely excruciating. So i thought id take it into my own hands really. It was quite tricky. I thought maybe ten or 15 minutes but
an hourand half thought maybe ten or 15 minutes but an hour and half it took me. Englands chief dental officer says a network of more than 200 urgent ca re centres a network of more than 200 urgent care centres is up and running to treat emergency cases but appointments are still difficult to get. Weve got a real backlog of patients who have been suffering. We have dealt with many of them with advice, antibiotics and analgesics. But many of these patients need face to face treatment. Without the necessary ppe, many of these centres, even though they are waiting to provide care for patients arent able to do that. Some dentists have moved to work in different roles. Others just want to help their own patients. Frustrated, i think is the only word. Frustrated that i cant do what i know i should be able to do. Nhs england says the right protective equipment is in place, and more is on the way. Dan johnson, bbc news. It is coming up to 1 20pm. Our top story this lunchtime. Deaths in england and wales have risen sharply new