BBC News viewers were stunned when Downing Street’s daily update was cut short on Thursday as the broadcaster cut to a UK weather forecast segment. Baffled viewers took to Twitter to voice their fury at the move. One Twitter user wrote: “Did the BBC just carry out censorship when a journalist asks Matt Hancock why he was tested couldn’t make it up.”

Another added: “Did the BBC seriously just cut off the daily COVID19 Press Briefing when someone asked the very important question of ‘Why did you (Matt Hancock) get tested over key NHS staff?’ Please tell me that wasn’t intentional censorship by the BBC Press.”

A third person wrote: “Absolute scenes as the BBC f**** off the press briefing and cuts to the weather.”

Others suggested the cutaway was “suspicious” but most likely a technical malfunction.

One even suggested the broadcaster’s days are “numbered”.

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Mr Hancock was being asked questions following the daily briefing when the live video feed cut to BBC news at six.

It is likely the late press briefing today overran causing the BBC to begin the six o’clock news by accident.

The Health Secretary announced in the briefing plans to wipe out £13.4 billion of historic NHS debt.

He said: “Today, to help NHS trusts to deliver what’s needed without worrying about past finances, I can announce that I’m writing off £13.4 billion of historic NHS debt.

“And we will strain every sinew to defeat it once and for all.

“And I will stop at nothing to make sure that frontline staff have the right equipment so that they are safe and can have the confidence they need to do their jobs.”

It comes as more than a half of Britons think Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government was too slow to order a lockdown to counter the spread of coronavirus, according an opinion poll published on Thursday.

The Ipsos MORI poll, carried out online between March 27 and 30, showed 56 percent of respondents believed the government’s enforcement of social distancing measures was too late, compared with just 4 percent who felt it was too soon.