Matt Hancock tonight insisted the coronavirus lockdown must stay until there is no risk of a second peak – as scientists warned the outbreak might not be fading. The Health Secretary vowed not to compromise the national effort against the disease as Professor Jonathan Van-Tam told the daily Downing Street briefing that while hospital occupancy rates … Read more
Disruptive social distancing measures will have to remain in place for the rest of this year, the country’s Chief Medical Officer has warned. Professor Chris Whitty said the measures cannot be lifted until either a vaccine for Covid-19 or ‘highly effective’ drugs to treat the virus become available. He told the daily Downing Street press … Read more
Claim – On the third Friday in January Coronavirus was already spreading around the world but the government ‘brushed aside’ the threat in an hour-long COBR meeting and said the risk to the UK public was ‘low’. Response – At a very basic level, this is wrong. The meeting was on the fourth Friday in … Read more
Controversial guidance issued to NHS doctors and nurses fighting the coronavirus crisis on the frontline have advised them to reuse PPE. It said disposable gowns can be re-used and masks should not be binned between patients – but gloves and aprons should still be disposed of as usual. Medics attacked the guidance, arguing no healthcare … Read more
Britain’s coronavirus daily death toll today dipped slightly to 847, fuelling hopes that the UK’s fatality curve is finally flattening after days of uncertainty. Fewer than 900 deaths have been recorded in British hospitals for six days in a row, suggesting the darkest days of the crisis could now be behind us. April 10 was … Read more
Britain could suffer 40,000 coronavirus deaths in the first wave of the outbreak, a leading public health expert dramatically warned today. Professor Anthony Costello, of University College London, blasted the Government’s handling of the crisis, saying it was ‘too slow’ to react. Almost 14,000 people in Britain have died of COVID-19 already in hospitals – … Read more
Dominic Raab tonight declared that coronavirus lockdown will stay for at least another three weeks despite growing alarm at the economic consequences. The Foreign Secretary confirmed the public’s ‘efforts are starting to pay off’ but draconian curbs cannot yet be lifted after he chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee. He said scientists believe … Read more
Furious families have today accused the Government of ‘sacrificing’ Britain’s elderly in the fight against coronavirus by discharging COVID-19 patients into care homes and signing the ‘death warrant’ of the most vulnerable in society. NHS hospitals have been ordered to drastically free up beds, meaning thousands of patients have been released, with scores of elderly … Read more
One in three NHS and critical key workers have tested positive for the coronavirus, official figures show. Out of almost 17,000 swabs carried out on key workers to date, 5,733 people have been infected – a rate of 33 per cent. In comparison, 23 per cent of those in the general population, NHS hospital patients, … Read more