The Covid-19 death toll in Britain's care homes could be as high as 7,500, a charity boss has warned.
The government has come under fire after it emerged there have been outbreaks in more than 3,000 homes in England.
Now the head of Care England says the number of care home residents to be killed by the virus is far higher than official estimates.
Chief executive Professor Martin Green told The Telegraph : "Without testing, it is very difficult to give an absolute figure.
"However, if we look at some of the death rates since April 1 and compare them with previous years' rates, we estimate a figure of about 7,500 people may have died as a result of Covid-19."
The organisation, which represents around 3,800 homes, had previously estimated the number was around 1,400.
Public Health England said there were 3,084 care homes with Covid-19 outbreaks in England, as of April 15.
Deaths in care homes are not included in the government's daily briefings.
Westminster has been criticised for not providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to care home workers, who come into contact with residents who figures show are the most vulnerable to Covid-19.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, told The Telegraph: "This is a shocking and utterly heartbreaking estimate that will send a chill down the spine of anyone with a loved one living in a care home."
She described it as a "tragedy in the making" and called for the government to take action to prevent further deaths.
Earlier today a leading physician warned Britain will probably have the highest death rate in Europe because the Government was "too slow" to act and would need to get through 10 waves of infection in order to develop herd immunity.
Professor Anthony Costello, of University College London's Institute for Global Health, told a committee of MPs that the "harsh reality" is that "we were too slow with a number of things".
He warned that 40,000 people were likely to die in the first wave alone.
"If we're going to suppress the chain of transmission of this virus in the next stage we all hope that the national lockdown and social distancing will bring about a large suppression of the epidemic so far - but we're going to face further waves," he said.
