Hundreds more deaths from Covid-19 in the north-west of England and in care homes have driven up the number of excess fatalities since the UK went into lockdown to more than 63,000, a toll believed to be greater than those anywhere else except the US. The number of deaths from the virus in England and Wales fell to 1,822 in the last week of May, the fewest for eight weeks, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). But the numbers remain relatively high in the north-west, where there have been fears of a resurgence of the virus. The region including Liverpool and Manchester recorded 282 deaths from the virus in England and Wales in the week ending 29 May, the most in any region. Care home deaths rose to a total of 13,454 up to 29 May. Care homes are now calling for the government to roll out repeat-testing of staff and residents to improve their infection control. More up-to-date figures from the Care Quality Commission and the Care Inspectorate Wales show that in the week to last Friday 448 people died in care homes with confirmed or suspected cases of coronavirus. The disease accounts for at least 28% of all deaths in care and nursing homes. HC-One, the largest provider of private homes, said on Monday it was approaching 1,000 coronavirus deaths among its residents, including 24 in a single home in Durham. The latest weekly deaths data from the ONS shows that a total of 45,748 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in England and Wales as of 29 May. The number of excess deaths in the period from the week ending 27 March to 29 May was 57,961. Statisticians say this figure could show undiagnosed Covid-19 deaths as well as deaths caused by a lack of treatment resulting from the lockdown. Adding in excess deaths for a similar period in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the total rises to 63,629. The rate of excess deaths is falling but it remained 20% higher than the five-year average for England and Wales, with 1,653 excess deaths in the week to 29 May. At the peak of the crisis in mid-April, there were almost 12,000 more deaths per week than normal. A study of 24 European countries shows that on average the continent is returning to normal levels of mortality, with effectively no excess mortality in France, Spain or Italy. England is still ranked as having “moderate excess” by the European Mortality Monitoring Project. Last week, the ONS reported that undiagnosed Covid-19 could help explain many of the excess deaths. “It is possible that symptoms may not be apparent or that Covid-19 could be mistaken for illnesses with similar symptoms,” it said. “Some death certificates state that more information will be provided later, and some of these have since been updated to mention Covid-19. This supports the theory that Covid-19 is under-diagnosed at present on death certificates.” It said underreporting could be due to people dying with a severe underlying conditions exacerbated by Covid-19, such as chronic lower respiratory disease, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. The largest increases in non-Covid-19 deaths compared with the five-year average were in deaths due to “dementia and Alzheimer’s disease” (up 52% on the five-year average) and “symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions” (up 78%). There was also an increase in deaths from asthma and diabetes up to the week ending 24 April, occurring increasingly outside hospital, which could suggest that a delay in care for these conditions is leading to an increase in deaths, the ONS said. The rise could also be related to undiagnosed Covid-19.