".

He was giving evidence to the sixth part of the Covid inquiry, which is investigating test, trace and quarantine policies.During 90 minutes of questioning, he was shown a series of entries from his evening diaries from the first year of the pandemic.

On 12 August 2020, he wrote about a meeting with the prime minister and his senior aides, including then chief adviser Dominic Cummings and cabinet secretary Simon Case."Instinct of this crew is to go for more enforcement and punitive measures," he wrote."We suggested more carrot and incentives [were] required to make people take a test, self-isolate etc, but they always want to go for stick not carrot."

Asked who he was referring to in that entry, Lord Vallance said it would have been the "decision-makers for policy".In another entry, on 25 September 2020, as Covid cases were rising once again, he quoted Boris Johnson as saying: "We need a lot more punishments and a lot more closing down".

And in a further entry on 7 January 2021, just after the start of the third nationwide lockdown, he wrote: "PM says: 'We haven't been ruthless enough. We need to force more isolation. I favour a more authoritarian approach.'"

He added: "Rather late in the day, the PM isn't understanding that incentives (or removal of disincentives) need to be in place to help people.""When mum came here for the first few nights I did ask for routine checks because I was concerned," she said.

Mrs Herbert said she came around to the technology after the home presented her with data which showed how her mother was monitored and not disturbed during the night.At Elmbrook Court care home in Wantage, Oxfordshire, they are using AI to find out if residents are in pain.

Aislinn Mullee, deputy manager at the home, said: "It can be quite difficult to identify pain in a resident that is non-verbal."Using a smartphone app called Painchek, carers scan a resident's face for pain indicators, answer questions about the resident and then receive an instant percentage score which indicates the level of pain that person is feeling.