‘Significant threat’ posed by pandemic warned of in 2016

A pandemic had been identified as a “very significant threat” to Kent four years before coronavirus struck the county, it has emerged.

Kent County Council’s senior emergency planning officer has revealed that in 2016 a secret simulation the authority took part in highlighted the impact and likelihood of such an outbreak.

Tony Harwood was speaking as the council’s response to the crisis was discussed at a meeting of its scrutiny committee.

Councillors were joined by KCC officers and the Kent Resilience Forum (KRF), a local multi-agency emergency planning group.

Officials described their efforts as “monumental” and said that four million items of personal protective equipment (PPE) had been dispatched to key workers, while a regional Covid testing centre was set up at Ebbsfleet station in April.

Despite this, more than 1,500 people have died from coronavirus in Kent, including almost 1,000 in hospitals and at least 405 in care homes across the county.

Barbara Cooper, KCC’s corporate director for environment, growth and transport, told the scrutiny committee on Tuesday: “Nobody predicted what we were going to face in March.”

However, Mr Harwood, who is compiling a paper on lessons learned from the crisis, said: “We had identified a pandemic as a very significant threat in terms of its impact and likelihood.”

In October 2016, KCC’s adult social care department had “actively” participated in a secret Government pandemic flu simulation. The exercise shone a light on potential shortages of PPE.

Mr Harwood told the scrutiny committee: “The engagement in exercise Cygnus was significant from KCC’s adult social care and emergency planning teams.

“That exercise, which was led by Public Health England, was significantly focused on an influenza pandemic.

“The coronavirus pandemic that we were faced with was slightly different in its characteristics and that’s why KCC created and published by April 1 a bespoke Covid-19 contingency plan.”

KCC chiefs initially discussed the threat of coronavirus sweeping from China to the UK in a series of planning meetings from January 28 to February 7.

Talks centred around key interventions at schools and the social care sector.

On March 6, KCC established a weekly Covid task group after the pandemic entered the UK.

KRF and KCC officials identified a series of key issues, including sourcing adequate PPE supplies, shielding the elderly in their homes and protecting the care home sector.

About four million items of PPE were distributed to local hospitals and care homes.

Daily KCC meetings were held from March to early June.

Several Kent county councillors have called for a more “proactive” approach in dealing with potential second waves amid a local lockdown in Leicester.

KCC’s main opposition leader, Cllr Rob Bird (Lib Dem), said: “Many councillors were very frustrated about the situation where we had no idea what was going on, what the challenges were and where things could be done better.”

KRF’s interim head, Mark Rolfe, responded: “We are now looking to make sure that everything we have in place in Kent can benefit from the lessons that they learn in Leicester.”

An updated paper will be presented to KCC’s scrutiny committee on Tuesday, July 23.

‘We had identified a pandemic as a very significant threat in terms of its impact and likelihood’

Senior emergency planning officer Tony Harwood