THE UK could soon be one of the worst hit European countries in the global coronavirus pandemic.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed that the death toll involving Covid-19 in England and Wales was 52% higher than the daily figures for deaths in hospitals released by the Government.

Statistics published by the Department of Health only include those deaths where the patient has been tested for coronavirus.

The ONS data includes people who have died where the doctor registering the death believes Covid-19 contributed.

The ONS figures published yesterday revealed that 21,284 people overall had died as of April 17. The Government figures on April 18 was 13,917.

Broadly comparable figures published by the National Records of Scotland showed that on April 19, 1616 deaths had been registered in Scotland where Covid-19 was mentioned in the death certificate.

According to Reuters, this all takes the United Kingdom’s total death toll beyond those reported by France and Spain, though currently lower than Italy’s total toll.

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The ONS figures also revealed that 7316 people had died in care homes overall during the 16th week of 2020, almost treble the number reported in the 13th week.

Last night, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said testing will be expanded to all care home residents and staff in England.

This includes those who do not have symptoms.

The grim statistics came as the UK Government’s top scientific advisers met to discuss ways of easing up the lockdown.

It’s thought Boris Johnson could unveil an action plan tomorrow.

Speaking on Monday, the Prime Minister said that he would detail the preparations for a “second phase” of the battle against coronavirus soon.

Reports from Government sources in the Times and Telegraph said plans could include helping workplaces to reduce the spread of the virus by enforcing social distancing and ensuring that staff can wash their hands regularly.

Shops selling “non-essential” items would be allowed to reopen if they could keep customers two metres apart.

People could also be allowed to mix with a wider group of friends and family under an expanded definition of a household that creates limited “bubbles” of people who can see each other, but not other people, regularly.

Though yesterday Downing Street moved to play down the prospect of any relaxing of restrictions before the next review of the lockdown in early May.

However, a number of high street businesses have moved to re-open sooner rather than later.

Greggs has told staff it plans to open 20 stores in the Newcastle area from Monday, May 4 as part of a “controlled trial”.

Burger King, KFC, Nandos and Pret A Manger have also announced plans to reopen some stores. McDonalds are set to open a restaurant this week for “operational tests” with an eye to opening further branches at some point in the future.

During an interview with LBC, Hancock was asked if he was concerned that the public might become weary of the lockdown.

“If you look at surveys of the public, if you talk to members of the public, if you look at how much the public are following the measures, the public are following the lockdown brilliantly,” he said.

“There’s a media debate about it and I understand that.

“But actually, the proportion of the public who support the lockdown remains absolutely solid.

“The number of people who are following the rules remains incredibly high.

“The number of people who are taking journeys, for instance, has barely changed on three weeks ago.”

The Health Secretary was confronted on the radio show by the son of a medic who died two weeks after warning the Government about a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Intisar Chowdhury, 18, the son of Abdul Mabud Chowdhury, a consultant urologist at Homerton Hospital in east London, asked Hancock whether he regretted not taking his father’s concerns seriously and asked him to “openly acknowledge” there had been mistakes in handling the virus.

Answering the question, the Health Secretary said: “We took very, very seriously what your father said and we’ve been working around the clock to ensure that there’s enough protective equipment.”