Every care home resident, staff in England to be COVID-19 tested by June: UK Minister

London: All care home residents and staff in England, will be tested for coronavirus by June this year, UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Friday.

“All care home residents and staff in England — both those with coronavirus symptoms and those without — will be tested between now and early June,” Matt Hancock was quoted as saying by CNN. This development comes after more than twenty-five percent of care home deaths were reported to be linked to novel coronavirus in England and Wales.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, between the period March 2 and May 1, registered up to the May 9, there were 45,899 deaths of care home residents (wherever the death occurred); of these 12,526 involved COVID-19, which is 27.3 percent of all deaths of care home residents, according to country’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Pointing to the sum allocated for a care home, Hancock defended the government’s handling of the outbreak among the elderly population in the UK.

He said that this week 600 million euros was made available, in addition to the 3.2 billion euros made available in March and April.

So far, 236,711 people have tested positive for the virus, while 33,998 people have now died due to the contagion in the UK. A total of 10,024 people are currently in hospital with coronavirus.

Source: ANI