Moment grinning MP Helen Whately LAUGHS

Care minister Helen Whately was blasted today for sniggering in a car crash TV interview as it was revealed a 'hidden epidemic' of coronavirus in nursing and old-people's homes may have cost 4,000 lives.

She was taken to task by Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain as he grilled her over an exclusive report in the Daily Mail that deaths in care facilities are being hugely under-reported because of a lack of testing. 

The latest report from the Office for National Statistics says the virus killed 217 care home residents in England and Wales in the two weeks up to April 3. 

But industry figures say the true count is much higher – potentially 4,000 since the outbreak started. 

 

GPs are also sometimes reluctant to write Covid-19 on death certificates and figures from care homes are not included in the official daily toll.

Mrs Whately, 43, the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, was sent out to face the media this morning as anger and questions increased over the vulnerability of care home residents amid a lack of testing and personal protective equipment  (PPE) for staff.

She has only been the Social Care Minister since February, when she was appointed in Boris Johnson's Cabinet reshuffle. 

Appearing on GMB she insisted that the Government has been working hard to tackle the crisis, but Piers insisted she answer questions about deaths in care homes, telling her he expected her to be working hard.

He asked: 'Is it true that 4,000 people have died in care home? Yes or no?' 



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