London: China's failure to give "clear" information about the spread of the coronavirus has been blamed for worsening the spread of the disease amid a growing diplomatic row with Beijing.

British Chancellor Michael Gove said China had not shared accurate data about the "scale, nature and infectiousness" of the disease, as Downing Street sources suggesting the Communist superpower would face a "reckoning" when the pandemic is over.

Talking tough: Michael Gove. Credit:AP

Tory MPs have used the anger towards China to renew calls for the government to rethink its policy on using Huawei to build part of the 5G mobile phone network.

But there were also accusations that ministers are using China as a convenient scapegoat to deflect criticism from the British government's failure to ramp up testing in the way that many other countries have done. Britain has only just reached the 10,000 tests per day mark, whereas Germany, which has a much lower death rate from coronavirus, does 500,000 tests per week, seven times as many as Britain.