“We didn’t know about asymptomatic transmission.” - Care Minister Helen Whately explains lessons learned on care homes

Care Minister Helen Whately told Good Morning Britain the government did not know about asymptomatic transmission of Covid-19 at the start of the pandemic, especially in care homes, which led to tens of thousands of deaths.

Her appearance followed the NHS confirming every care home resident has now been offered a Covid-19 vaccination.

The Minister also explained back at the start of the pandemic it was thought Covid tests were only effective on people who showed symptoms.

Ms Whately was asked what lessons the government has learned in protecting care home residents after more than 30,000 deaths from Covid since the pandemic began.

"We didn't know back then about the asymptomatic transmission of the virus and that people could be infectious even if they didn't have symptoms," the Care Minister said. "We also didn't know you could test people then. We thought the test only worked if you had symptoms."

Ms Whately explained since the summer her department has been focused on a 'huge' testing programme for care homes to combat asymptomatic transmission revealing they've carried out over 19 million tests in care homes.

She added that was more tests than Canada had carried out on its entire population.

The Minister also expressed regret at the amount of deaths suffered in care homes because these two factors were not known earlier.

"I wish we had known back then that you could be asymptomatic and infectious and of course I wish that we had had more testing," she said.

Asked what she would say to the families of people that have died in care homes Ms Whately said: "I hate the fact we've seen so many lives lost. I know every single person who's died will be someone's mother, father, brother or sister and they have friends and family who are mourning them."