Kate Garraway has challenged Matt Hancock in their first meeting since her husband became seriously ill with coronavirus.
The Health Secretary appeared on Thursday's Good Morning Britain which was being hosted by Kate and Ben Shephard.
Kate's husband Derek Draper has been in hospital for 11 months after testing positive for the virus in March last year.
Despite now being Covid free, Kate has previously said the virus has "wreaked havoc" on his body and she's not sure if he'll ever fully recover.
This lead to Kate, 53, asking Mr Hancock about what plans they have in place for those suffering long Covid.
Many people who have tested positive for coronavirus have reported suffering symptoms long after suffering with the virus itself.
This has become known as long Covid and can see people suffering coronavirus-like symptoms for months - from loss of taste and smell to breathing difficulties and various body pains.
"Matt, we haven't had a chance to speak, I know you know, since Derek got sick last March, directly," Kate began.
"I've watched you and all politicians wrestle with an impossible situation just as I've watched doctors wrestle with an impossible situation and just as I've watched things change for Derek.
"So I completely understand the uncertainty. But can I ask you a question about planning for the future...
"Particularly on a specific thing, long Covid. We now have, I know personally and I know anecdotally from many more people than Derek that's an extreme case, people with huge long Covid problems."
She went on to ask: "Are you confident that people are accepting long Covid exists?
"Of course we are prioritising saving lives. Of course we have to prioritise saving lives.
"But I'm worried that we've got a second pandemic of people with huge damage around the corner and what plans are you making now for that?"
Mr Hancock said it was an "incredibly important" subject and one 'close to his heart'.
"It is a really serious problem," he said. "We have put significant funding into research to try understand the cause and there appears to be a whole series of different syndromes that cause different symptoms that all amount to long Covid."
He added that while he understands Kate's husband Derek had coronavirus "very seriously," some people who don't end up in hospital or have severe initial symptoms have those symptoms for months.
Kate then referred to an Imperial College research which has found cough, temperature and loss of taste and smell "isn't helpful" because people are getting Covid-19, which causes damage, but not displaying those symptoms.
"If you go on to any government website or to any situation where you need to find out facts it says symptoms [are] cough temperature, or loss of smell," Kate said.
"And people say I haven't got that, I haven't got that so I haven't got Covid.
"I don't think that has been helpful in looking at how people have suffered and died or indeed how it's spread. What are you doing to address that?"
Mr Hancock says they are still the main, or primary key, symptoms in many people but the government has set out a list of other symptoms.
"It's time to review that then?" Kate interjected. "Derek never had a cough, he never had a temperature."
Mr Hancock said they always "keep that under review" and there's always a "clinical judgement".
"So you will review symptoms then?" Kate pressed again. "I worry how many lives have been lost by discouraging people to go to their GP if they haven't got those."
Mr Hancock said if you have any symptoms making you ill you should go to your GP and the GP "will know the longer list of symptoms for Covid."
