One in four deaths in Norfolk care homes were related to coronavirus, new figures have revealed.

The Office for National Statistics weekly figures show than more than 4,300 care home residents across the country have died based on data from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The CQC figures begin from April 10, the first day the CQC was able to distinguish whether a death involved COVID-19, of which there were 93.

In the period to April 24, the number increased to 4,343 deaths in care homes involving COVID-19.

The CQC reported in Norfolk, 31 of the 127 deaths in care homes between April 10 and April 24 were related to coronavirus, 24 per cent of the total.

For the same period there were 58 coronavirus related deaths in Suffolk.

Kate Terroni, CQC chief inspector of adult social care: “Every death in today’s figures represents an individual tragedy for those who have lost a loved one - and for those who cared for them.  

“We will continue to support care home managers as they do everything they can to keep people safe, but it is clear that more support is needed, from every part of the system, as social care staff go to extraordinary lengths to protect those in their care.”

Read more: Health boss optimistic Norfolk has reached peak in virus pandemicThe ONS said an important difference was the its figures reported deaths were COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, while CQC notifications rely on the statement of care home providers that the virus was suspected or confirmed.

The weekly figures also showed there were 22,351 deaths which involved coronavirus up to April 17 (registered up to April 25) anywhere in England & Wales compared to the figure of 14,451 in hospitals at the same stage.

The ONS counts deaths where COVID-19, including suspected cases, was mentioned on the death certificate, regardless of location, in comparison to the Department of Health’s daily figures which reflect the number of deaths in hospitals only.

In Norfolk, 159 coronavirus deaths have been recorded by local authority in locations across the county which occurred up to April 17 but were registered up to April 25.

Read more: From NHS heroes to community volunteers, response to crisis praised in special illustrationThe ONS figures for the year to date shows 22.6pc of deaths in England and Wales, registered by April 17 occurred outside of hospital.

The remaining 77.4pc of deaths have occurred in hospital.

To date 242 people have confirmed to have died after testing for the virus in the county’s three main hospitals.