The Government is on track to miss its own target to test every care home resident for coronavirus.
In the past week just 6% of residents have been tested for the Covid-19, The Telegraph reported.
Since the pandemic began 21% have been checked for the virus, but only 1% have been tested twice or more since March 18.
Across the country 40% of people have had no residents tested, data from The Data Analysis Bureau (T-DAB) and Person Centred Software shows.
The Government will have to get a move on if it is to meet its ambition of testing everyone living in a care home by early June.
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The Office of National Statistics has announced that 15,000 care home residents have died of Covid-19.
However, London School of Economics academics have suggested that the true figure is closer to 22,000.
If they're right, then 5% of everyone who lives in a care home have died of the coronavirus.
More positive is the fact that infection rates amongst residents appear to be falling.
The proportion of care home residents who had the disease peaked at 5% on May 8 and seems to be declining.
Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK, told The Telegraph: “While this new data gives us real hope that deaths in care homes have now peaked, the number of care home residents and staff who have been tested remains extremely low.
“If testing is the route out from the devastation that the virus has caused then it’s crucial that all care home residents and staff are tested, and as quickly as possible.
"Behind all the care home death statistics are real older people whose lives were tragically cut short, and families and friends left to carry on knowing that in other circumstances their loved ones may have survived."
A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said it had the capacity to deliver 30,000 tests a day for whole care home testing.
They added that 125,000 workers in care settings and 118,000 care home residents had been tested, with an online portal to book tests having been set live.
Yesterday it was reported that the family of a couple who died of Covid-19 are preparing the UK’s first legal claim against a care home over the virus.
Norman and Shirley Milne, both 81, died eight days apart.
Relatives had installed a camera in Norman’s room at Sherrell House Care Home in Essex, which they say shows staff tending him without basic protective gear like masks and gloves.
Son Steve Milne, 45, said: “Last week we had a double funeral for my parents.
"I feel numb, I don’t think it’s properly hit me yet.
“I feel guilty because we put them in the home but we feel like the way they were cared for was either naive or negligent.”
He has called in human rights lawyers and instructed them to fight for answers over the couple’s treatment.
