People dying with coronavirus to be given 'chance to say goodbye' to family 'wherever possible'

People dying with coronavirus will be given the "chance to say goodbye” to loved ones “wherever possible”, the health secretary has announced after coming under pressure to protect the social care sector.

Previously, those who had Covid-19 and were in hospital could not be visited by relatives.

Matt Hancock said he was announcing new procedures because “wanting to be with someone you love at the end of their life is one of the deepest human instincts”.

Revealing a raft of measures to help the social care sector, Mr Hancock said those in the industry would benefit from more testing and PPE, while staff will be given a "badge of honour" so they can be recognised by the public.

Giving the government's daily coronavirus update, Mr Hancock reiterated earlier pledges to ensure all care home residents and staff are tested for coronavirus if they need to be, as well as anyone returning from hospital after suffering symptoms.

He said the government was "increasing again PPE supplies" to care homes by setting up a "supply logistics and distribution network of unprecedented scale" which will ensure equipment is delivered to care homes.

Despite Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty saying the UK is “probably” reaching the peak of the outbreak, Mr Hancock hinted that coronavirus restrictions will not be relaxed tomorrow.

He said: "We cannot let up in our efforts, we cannot let go of the hard work that’s been done so far.

“This shared sacrifice – and I know it’s a sacrifice – is starting to work but we will not lift these measures until it is safe to do so.”

Professor Whitty said while signs were positive, he warned "after a long, four-day weekend, there may well be a bounce tomorrow.”

He said the spread of infection appeared to have "flattened out" but "sadly we do think that high numbers of deaths will continue for a short while".

Prof Whitty reiterated: “At the moment we are not yet at the point where we can say confidently and safely this is now past the peak and we can start thinking very much about the next phases.”

Mr Hancock also announced a new “single brand” with a badge for care workers, which he said may help them access similar perks to NHS staff.

"This badge will be a badge of honour in a very real sense, allowing social care staff proudly and publicly to identify themselves, just like NHS staff do with that famous blue and white logo.

“I know that many businesses will want to offer the same recognition and benefits as they do wonderfully to the NHS.”

He said supermarkets had been asked to give the same priority access to care workers as NHS staff.

He also said there was a plan to "strengthening our national recruitment campaign" with the aim of recruiting "tens of thousands" of people into social care.

Mr Hancock said the government will pay for people's initial induction training.

He made the pledges after it was revealed "about 1,000" residents had died after outbreaks at at least 2,000 care homes - at one facility there have been at least 13 fatalities.

The health secretary said he said he was “determined” to ensure that everyone needing a test should have access to one, with testing remaining a “key” part of the Government’s coronavirus battle plan.

But questions have been raised as to how the government will offer tests to everyone who needs one, when it failed to meet its own target of 25,000 tests per day by mid-April.

In the 24 hours up to 9am on Tuesday, just 14,982 tests were carried out - despite there being capacity for 19,000 .

But Mr Hancock said the government was still working toward its target of 100,000 per day by the end of the month.

“We’re building capacity of testing all the time," he said.

“And as we build capacity further over this month and then beyond to that 100,000 a day target by the end of this month we’ll expand further those who are eligible for tests – all as part of the plan to get a hold of this virus and make sure that we support the key public services that we need as this moment.”

There are also concerns over why it has taken so long to make the commitment, with the government knowing for some time that elderly people were among the most vulnerable to coronavirus.

Mr Hancock admitted one of the first things discovered about Covid-19 was that the elderly were badly affected by the disease.

“Therefore it was clear that, especially for care settings supporting older people – and it’s also true for care settings that support people of working age – we were going to have to have a particular focus,” he said.

Deputy chief scientific adviser Dame Angela McLean said there was a “huge question” about how to protect care homes which do not yet have cases.

Care home providers have also been raising concerns around protective equipment for staff, with many procuring their own gear to get around shortages.

Earlier, the chief executive of Optima Care, who looks after 14 care homes, told ITV News that running his business without testing is like "trying to do your job with both hands behind your back".

He said without testing, staff are unable to know whether they're safe to work with vulnerable residents.

He also highlighted problems he's been facing with PPE.

"The general themes that are coming across are just the pure lack of PPE equipment, there's a lot of individual providers having to resort to local and very innovative ways to self-fabricate or acquire through various different sources

"It's a very time consuming process especially when we're trying to maintain a level of confidence and safety for the staff we're asking to come to work on a daily basis and expose themselves to risk."