British health minister Matt Hancock denied on Wednesday that the government had left many elderly people in care homes vulnerable to the novel coronavirus by prioritising hospitals.

Asked on Sky News whether he should have acted differently towards care homes, Hancock said: “I think it’s very hard because I feel like we put a huge amount of effort and resources behind supporting care homes from the start.”

“Maybe we should’ve explained that more clearly,” he said, adding that it would have helped if Britain could have tested more widely earlier in the outbreak.