Matt Hancock rejected advice to Covid test all residents entering English care homes, an investigation based on a leaked trove of more than 100,000 WhatsApps alleges. The Telegraph claims chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty told the then health secretary in April 2020 there should be testing for 'all going into care homes'.
But Mr Hancock rejected the guidance, the messages suggest, telling an aide the move just 'muddies the waters', and introduced mandatory testing for those coming from hospitals. The MP has denied the 'distorted account' with a spokesman alleging the messages, leaked by journalist Isabel Oakeshott after she worked on his Pandemic Diaries memoir, have been 'spun to fit an anti-lockdown agenda'.
Mr Hancock expressed concerns that expanding care home testing could 'get in the way' of the target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests he was desperate to hit, the investigation said. A spokesman for Mr Hancock said the former health secretary is 'considering all options' in response to the leak, with a source close to him telling the PA news agency: "She’s broken a legal NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Her behaviour is outrageous."
