It's been described as the UK's biggest ever medical disaster. The description is no exaggeration.
It is estimated that more than 30,000 people have been infected with HIV and hepatitis C - all as a result of medical procedures / experiments carried out in the 1970s and 1980s.
Almost 3,000 people are thought to have died because they received blood from high-risk people (including prisoners and drug addicts). The majority came from the USA.
More than 1,250 people who had bleeding disorders were diagnosed with HIV infection and hepatitis C after treatment. Thousands more were left with hepatitis C.
Other mistakes were made in blood transfusions, for example after surgery or childbirth. In other cases, people with AIDS have unwittingly transmitted the virus to their partners.
And it is estimated that children infected with HIV and hepatitis served as guinea pigs in drug tests at the same time.
During the public inquiry into the national scandal, in 2022 the UK authorities announced that they would pay provisional compensation of 100,000 pounds - around 117,000 euros - to around 4,000 victims.
This Sunday, The Times reports that the victims will receive around 10 billion pounds, almost 11.7 billion euros.
Caroline Wheeler, Political Editor
The measures should be made official in two weeks' time, when the results of the investigation that began in 2017 are announced.
In addition to compensation (to victims or relatives of the deceased), an entity responsible for implementing the compensation should be created.
After decades of "denial and inaction", the government is going to do "the right thing", reacted the spokesperson for the victims' group, Andy Evans, who stressed that there are people who "desperately" need this financial help.
