All care homes residents and staff to be tested for coronavirus by early June, health secretary says
Health secretary Matt Hancock told the government’s daily coronavirus briefing today that all care home patients and staff would be tested for covid-19 by early June.
The government has been critcised for the measures taken to protect care home residents from covid-19 which is still a serious problem in the care system.
Hancock said there has been a “huge need to protect people in care homes” and said the government has worked to do this “right from the start”.
The health secretary said £600m has been made available to care homes this week to help fight the virus. This is in addition to the £172m available to devolved governments, Hancock said.
Hancock today said the government is requiring councils to regularly review the situation in local care homes.
The health secretary said two thirds of care homes in England have had no coronavirus outbreaks.
Hancock said the number of care homes reporting an outbreak has fallen and the number of deaths in care homes has halved.
However, he said there is “so much more to do”.
“We’ll do everything humanly possible to protect them as long as they are threatened by this virus,” he said of care home residents.
The number of coronavirus deaths in the UK has risen by 384 to 33,998, the Department of Health said earlier.