A government medical chief has apologised for the number of deaths in UK care homes due to coronavirus.
Speaking at the daily Downing Street briefing on Saturday, Deputy chief medical officer Prof Van-Tam said care homes were a “perfect storm” for Covid-19, adding “I’m extremely sorry for the many deaths that have occurred.”
Asked why it has been so difficult to protect the vulnerable in care homes and what more might need to be done, he said they are difficult “from a basic infection control and epidemiology point of view”.
“You almost have the perfect storm of a really nasty virus that’s infectious, a very elderly population – and we know age increases risk – a population with many underlying illnesses, risk conditions that again further increase risk and to an extent an indoor environment.
"So it’s just a very challenging place to work in.”
He said those working in NHS England and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are “really putting an enormous amount of effort into solving these problems and giving as much advice and support as they physically can”.
It comes as the UK reports another 346 coronavirus deaths, bringing the total to 31,587, according to official government figures.
However the true number is expected to be much higher, with new figures from NHS England suggesting the overall death toll for all settings in the UK has now passed 36,600.
It is understood the CQC is now investigating reports hospitals discharged patients with coronavirus back into care homes causing the outbreaks.
Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham revealed more than half the care homes reporting to Greater Manchester’s health system are now flagging Covid cases.
He said said local data suggested the virus was still spreading through the conurbation’s residential homes, raising concerns over plans to start lifting restrictions at the start of next week.
Figures show Covid deaths in the region now account for 51pc of all care home deaths reported to the CQC here, up from 48pc a week earlier.
In Salford, coronavirus now accounts for nearly two thirds of all care home deaths, according to the regulator’s figures, while in Oldham that proportion has remained at around 60pc.
