HEALTH and Social Care minister Helen Whately has been criticised for suggesting it’s time to “move on” from mourning coronavirus deaths during last night’s Question Time episode.

The programme was broadcast from “Glasgow” with a digital audience of viewers made up of people who are based in the city, and a panel primarily made up of Scotland-based representatives.

However the official UK Government representative was Whately, who found it difficult to answer questions on isolation rules in relation to the Dominic Cummings scandal and was challenged on the UK having the world’s second-worse coronavirus death rate.

READ MORE: Question Time: Helen Whately 'bewildered' during appearance

During the programme an audience member asked why the UK Government is so insistent on building a “world-beating” contact tracing system for Covid-19 months into the crisis when other countries, particularly in Asia, have had such schemes in place since the beginning of the crisis.

Whately was also asked about news that the UK now has the second-worst Covid-19 death rate in the world.

She said: “I think we are absolutely looking at what other countries are doing. I think what we do know is now is not the moment where we can really compare those kinds of things between different countries.

“But the important thing is every life lost is somebody we mourn with sadness but we also need to make sure we can move on and keep the infection under control and try to begin to get life more in the direction of normal.”

Online, people picked up on the comment quickly. Femi posted: “Tell me this doesn't translate to: ‘Yeah we've killed thousands of people... Get over it.’”

Meanwhile others asked the minister to apologise for the comment. Mike wrote: @Helen_Whately I understand that you had to think on your feet trying to protect the govt’s crappy actions on national TV but this an awful thing to say and you should apologise.”

The minister was also called out for her explanation of the coronavirus self-isolation rules during the show.

Last month Whately also found herself struggling on TV in two separate interviews with Piers Morgan, who has been critical of the UK Government’s response to the crisis.