Office for National Statistics data shows that in North West Leicestershire, 49 deaths involving Covid-19 were provisionally registered up to May 9 – up from 45 the week before.

Of those, 12 occurred in care homes and four at private homes.

The figures include deaths that occurred up to May 1 which were registered up to eight days later.

And a further death linked to the coronavirus in North West Leicestershire has occurred outside hospital, new figures suggest.

The latest figures come after a leading expert said delayed enforcement of the coronavirus lockdown contributed to the country's high death toll, with the threat to care homes given "insufficient attention".

It means in total, at least 16 Covid-19-related deaths in North West Leicestershire occurred outside hospital up to May 9 – up from 15 in the previous week.

ONS figures are based on where Covid-19 is mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, including in combination with other health conditions.

The number of people who died of the coronavirus in North West Leicestershire's hospitals up to May 9 was 33, according to the ONS, three more than the week before.

Across England and Wales, there were roughly 33,400 coronavirus-related deaths up to May 1. Of those, 68 per cent occurred in hospitals and 25 per cent in care homes, with the rest taking place elsewhere.

Separate analysis shows there were 8,314 deaths in care homes involving the coronavirus reported by care home providers in England to the Care Quality Commission between April 10 and May 8, according to the ONS.

Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman, a leading expert in strategic studies, said the Government followed public opinion rather than shaped it in the early days of the outbreak.

In an article for Survival, the journal of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Sir Lawrence said that after lockdown restrictions were announced on March 23, the measures "enjoyed wide public support and compliance was good".

"The Government met its main target. The NHS was not overwhelmed. Yet the death toll is high," he said.

"One reason for this, hard to quantify, was the delayed moving to lockdown.

"It is now clear that while preparing the NHS for an influx of cases, the threat to care homes was not only given insufficient attention, but even aggravated."

The Government's recently published coronavirus recovery strategy details steps to protect care homes, including offering testing to staff and residents at every care home looking after over-65s.

A new online portal for homes to arrange deliveries of Covid-19 test kits was launched by the Department of Health and Social Care on May 11.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the portal "allows those who book tests for staff and residents to do so even more easily, and it also offers a route for the prioritisation of care homes with the greatest need."