Reports that hospitals sent patients known to have coronavirus to care homes without warning them are being investigated by the care quality watchdog.
Kate Terroni, Chief inspector of adult social care at the Care Quality Commission (CQC), said the organisation was taking the reports very seriously.
Hospitals may have broken regulations by not informing care homes - and could have triggered coronavirus outbreaks in the homes which killed other elderly residents.
And care home workers, unaware of the residents' positive Covid-19 diagnosis, would have handled them without the proper protective equipment.