Real UK coronavirus death toll is 51,766 – 10,000 more than the official figure

THE real UK coronavirus death toll today hit 51,766 - 10,000 more than the official figure.

Office for National Statistics figures released today revealed that 46,421 died from the virus in England and Wales up to May 29.

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And combined with the latest 677 deaths reported in hospital and the national stats for Scotland and Northern Ireland, there have now been 51,766 deaths across the UK.

This is 10,000 less than the 40,597 fatalities recorded by health officials.

The number of excess deaths in the UK since the coronavirus outbreak began has passed 63,500.

This means that the virus was responsible for 78 per cent of the excess deaths registered in England and Wales since March 21 and May 29.

The ONS revealed there had been 57,961 excess deaths in England and Wales between March 21 and May 29 this year.

Including Scotland's excess deaths of 4,729 and Northern Ireland's excess toll reaching 906, the number of excess deaths in the UK now stands at 63,596.

Stephen Powis, National Medical Director of NHS England, has previously warned that these excess deaths will be the “key measure” in assessing the impact of the bug.

The ONS figures today laid bare how the virus has swept across the UK, with 29,226 deaths in hospitals in England and Wales up to May 29.

In care homes, 13,460 deaths were recorded by the end of last month - 29 per cent of fatalities.

But in a sign the UK is slowly winning the fight against coronavirus, the lowest proportion of deaths were recorded since the week lockdown was imposed.

Less than a fifth of deaths registered in the week ending May 29 in England and Wales involved coronavirus.

There were 9,824 deaths registered in that week - a fall from the previous week but still 1,653 deaths higher than what would usually be expected, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Of these, 1,822 involved Covid-19 - 18.5% of the total that week and the lowest number of weekly coronavirus deaths for eight weeks.

It is also the first time the proportion of weekly coronavirus deaths has fallen to under a fifth since the week lockdown was imposed, the week ending March 27, when the virus accounted for 5% of the deaths.

While numbers are falling, there have been tens of thousands of "excess" deaths compared to the average number of deaths over five years for the same period.

Figures published last week by the National Records for Scotland showed that 3,911 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to May 31.

And the latest figures from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, also published last week, showed 757 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in Northern Ireland up to May 29 (and had been registered up to June 3).