Government acted unlawfully by failing to protect care home residents, High Court rules

Elderly and disabled care home residents were unlawfully exposed to Covid-19

The government broke the law by failing to protect care home residents who died after being exposed to Covid-19, the high court has ruled. A decision to discharge patients from hospital into care homes at the start of the pandemic was unlawful, as it failed to protect over 20,000 elderly and disabled care home residents who died after becoming infected with Covid-19. The move broke the law because the government failed to assess the risk posed by non-symptomatic transmission of the virus. The case was brought forward by Dr Cathy Gardner and Fay Harris, whose fathers died of Covid-19. This is a breaking news story and will be updated.