BBC Newsnight policy editor Lewis Goodall said he had seen the data from the County Council. There has been concern over the prevalence of the virus in care homes in the UK. Mr Goodall explained: “Well, I’ve got some data, a leaked email from Durham County Council, which shows just how grave that situation might be.

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“Have a look at the screen now, you can see on the graph, it shows deaths in Durham County Council for the last 25 days up to April 20.

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“The blue bit on the graph is the deaths in care homes.”

The graph displayed on-screen also showed hospitals in grey and homes in orange.

Mr Goodall continued: “Look how much blue there is on that graph, around 50 percent, just shy, of all the deaths from COVID-19 in the 25 days up to April 20 were taking place in care homes.

“Now, this is just one county, of course, perhaps a slightly older population than other parts of England, relatively sparsely populated.

“But, nonetheless, if this were to be replicated across the rest of the country… then the real death toll could be far in excess of the 20,000 we’ve seen.”

Mr Goodall said the figure was substantiated by figures from nations in Europe.

On Friday, the Department of Health of Social Care tweeted: “As of 9am 24 April, 612,031 tests have concluded, with 28,532 tests on 23 April.

“444,222 people have been tested of which 143,464 tested positive.

“As of 5pm on 23 April, of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 19,506 have sadly died.”

The department also announced a new diagnostic lab had opened in Glasgow to increase testing capacity.

Professor John Newton, the national testing coordinator, said: “Every day across the country we are increasing our coronavirus testing capacity.

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“Just a few weeks ago we launched the first Lighthouse Lab in Milton Keynes, and now it is part of the biggest network of diagnostic labs in British history.

“I want to thank all the expert staff and volunteers who have helped make the construction of the Lighthouse Labs possible, and who continue to work so hard to ensure that NHS staff and frontline workers can be tested for the virus.

“Thanks to their efforts, thousands of people have been able to safely return to work after testing negative for the virus.”

There are 21,723 care homes in Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands according to The Sun.

Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, said earlier this month coronavirus was present in 13.5 percent of care homes.

He said on April 13: “If an outbreak is suspected, public health authorities will go in to do testing to assess if an outbreak has taken place.”

Care homes are not included in the Government’s daily list of fatalities.

Work and Pensions Secretary Terese Coffey defended the Government’s policy on the Today Programme commenting: “That is a fair system of getting that unfortunate picture across the country where there are deaths from coronavirus.

“We are absolutely being transparent, but what the government wants to provide at its daily briefing is quick information, accurate information.”

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