A TOTAL of 145 care homes in Lancashire have suspected coronavirus cases it has been announced.

Lancashire County Council (LCC) officials confirmed the number which was published in a statement by the council’s Labour group.

The number amounts to a quarter of all care homes in the county.

Councillors say the authorities are in contact with care home providers “on a daily basis” and are being given regular updates to help track the spread of the virus.

In the statement Cllr Azhar Ali, leader of LCC’s Labour group, said: "The care sector are doing a fantastic job and it's up to all of us to demonstrate our support for them by staying away.

“Providing them with the personal protective equipment they need and begin a robust testing regime that reaches out to every home.

"It's up to us to provide practical solution not political posturing. This includes being open and honest with the public.

“The teams within the care homes have been leading the way by reducing access, promoting video visits, staff have changed their hour and have given up their own family time and fears to protect the residents.

"It's also important at this time to recognise what the resident's family and friends are going through at this time.

“The individual care homes are keeping in touch with them providing them with updates on the support their loved ones are receiving.

“I cannot describe the emotional strain that they will be going through so I will just thank them for abiding by the care home rules and working through this very difficult time in support of every resident not just their loved one in the care home and the fantastic staff providing the support."

The number of suspected cases of the virus in each home is yet to be known.

Cllr Graham Gooch, LCC's cabinet member for adult services, said: "We have more than 400 care homes across Lancashire with thousands of staff who are vital key workers, providing care to so many older people across the county.

“We know this is a difficult time for all of them, and thank them for their dedication. But we are doing much more than just thanking them - we are doing all we can to support them financially, with staffing, and with equipment.

"We have great care homes across the county, and have worked with them all to drive up quality and standards which means the vast majority are rated either good or outstanding.

“We have been there for our care sector in the past, and are still here for them now in this crisis.

"Our focus is supporting the care sector through this emergency so they can continue to provide care to some of Lancashire's most vulnerable people."

On Tuesday it was confirmed that at least 11 care home residents in Lancashire had died due to suspected coronavirus.

However, that number is expected to increase as the true scale of the pandemic's impact on care home residents becomes clearer.