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Speaking on BBC The Coronavirus Newscast, Laura Kuenssberg claimed the Prime Minister’s most vulnerable spot in his plans to fight coronavirus in the UK is how the Government has dealt with the pandemic in care homes. She explained: “This is an issue that we’ll come back to time and time again.

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“Because a lot of people are desperately worried that the situation in many care homes is terrible.

“Some care homes are doing fine and working very hard and it’s okay.

“But the Government knows behind closed doors that they are really vulnerable on this.

“And there is a huge amount of public concern.”

Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick acknowledged the coronavirus crisis in care homes was “absolutely terrible”.

The Communities Secretary told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I don’t deny that what is happening in care homes is absolutely terrible. It’s a huge challenge.

“But we are trying to put as much support as we can around care homes.”

Along with extra cash, the Government was trying to ensure staff and residents can get tested, he said.

“We are trying to help them to have the best possible infection control practices, we are trying to reduce the amount of rotation and movement of staff between care homes, which is one of the main reasons why the virus is spreading,” he added.

He said the most recent £600million promised for homes in England was “to help alleviate some of those challenges”.

Health minister Edward Argar also said the Government still needs to “make available” Covid-19 testing capacity so all care home residents and staff can get tested.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Argar said: “There is still some capacity there that we need to put in… make available, I should say, to care homes to make sure everyone can access it quickly.”

He added: “To make sure they get their results back quickly so they know when they have someone who didn’t test negative – that’s fine.

“Or when they have someone who has tested positive, they know to use that… if they are accepting a discharge back to the care home, they know to put in place those isolation rules and those isolation procedures.”

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The Health minister also said that the Government did not receive “bad advice” about not locking down care homes at the same time as Italy, which saw the first major outbreak of Covid-19 in Europe

He said: “I completely refute the assertion that it was bad advice, or it was poor advice.

“We have some of the best scientists in the world modelling this and giving us the advice.”

He added: “If you think back to February or March, every day we were learning, and scientists were learning, something new about how it behaved and that it didn’t always behave exactly the same way in different countries.

“The second point is that, of course, Italy was, as we recognised, ahead of us in terms of the curve and that community transmission. They did this at a point where they had, and it was shown they had, community transmission and that was one of the reasons that caused them to make that change.

“We didn’t at that point, and that’s why when we did have the evidence of that we then made the appropriate changes.”

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