Reaction: government said care homes were safe despite experts’ Covid-19 warnings

Downing Street is under pressure to explain why the government failed to warn the care sector about the risks of Covid-19, as new figures reveal that a quarter of deaths in UK care homes in the past two months were linked to the virus.

According to Office for National Statistics data for March and April, care homes in England and Wales recorded a total of 45,899 deaths, of which 12,526 (27%) mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.

The publication of the figures coincides with reports that ministers were warned of a serious risk of “sustained transmission” of coronavirus through care homes two weeks before the government advised that it was “very unlikely” elderly residents would be infected.

According

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