Thread by @Telegraph

The Telegraph has obtained more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent between Matt Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

These are #thelockdownfiles

The Lockdown Files is the biggest leak of data involving the Government since the 2009 MPs' expenses scandal, shedding new light on issues including care home deaths, lockdowns, testing, school closures and face masks

#TheLockdownFiles telegraph.co.uk/news/lockdown-…

The Telegraph analysed messages containing 2.3 million words.

In The Lockdown Files we reveal the contents of those messages, and the serious questions they raise... #TheLockdownFiles telegraph.co.uk/news/lockdown-…

In the first major story from The Lockdown Files, we found evidence that Matt Hancock watered down his Chief Medical Officer’s plan for testing in English care homes, leaked messages seen by The Telegraph reveal.

telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/2… #TheLockDownFiles

Prof Sir Chris Whitty told the then health secretary early in the pandemic that there should be testing for “all going into care homes”.

But Mr Hancock did not follow that guidance, telling his advisers that it “muddies the waters”.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/2…

Instead, Hancock introduced guidance that made testing mandatory for those entering care homes from hospitals, but not for those coming from the community. #TheLockdownFiles

telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/2…

Over the following two years, there were more than 40,000 Covid deaths in care homes in England and Wales, making the sector the scene of one of the biggest tragedies of the pandemic.

telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/2… #TheLockdownFiles

Mr Hancock himself later told MPs that transmission from the community - particularly from staff - was the “strongest route” for Covid into care homes. #TheLockdownFiles

telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/2…