Lack of testing and PPE among key England Covid-19 mistakes, MPs told

Exclusive: older people also ‘catastrophically let down’ by hospital discharges to care homes

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A lack of protective equipment, inadequate testing, and discharging people from hospitals into care homes were the key mistakes made by the government in its approach to coronavirus in England, according to the first responses given to a major coronavirus inquiry seen exclusively by the Guardian.

Older people were “catastrophically let down” and many died before their time, according to a damning submission from the Age UK charity. It also described the initial policy of discharging the elderly from hospital into care settings without a Covid-19 test as a “terrible mistake”.

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