Virus fading in London as major hospitals report no deaths in 48 hours
CORONAVIRUS data that show only small numbers of people are now testing positive for the virus in London have been hailed as “promising” by Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary.
Public Health England figures released last night show just two people tested positive for the virus in London on Tuesday and just 14 on Monday.
Mr Dowden agreed that the numbers were “moving in the right direction”.
Separately, analysis by the University of Oxford for The Daily Telegraph shows that six major London hospital trusts reported no deaths from Covid-19 in the past 48 hours.
Homerton, University College London, Hillingdon, North Middlesex, Whittington Health and Guy’s and St Thomas’ were recording up to 16 deaths a day at the peak of the crisis and have totalled more than 1,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
A week ago, The Telegraph disclosed how Public Health England modelling suggested fewer than 24 people a day were being infected in London, with the number halving every 3.5 days.
It comes amid growing unease that economically damaging restrictions are still in place in areas where the virus has been virtually eliminated.
Mr Dowden said the Government may consider lifting restrictions in “micro-hotspots” when track and trace was in place but ruled out regional variation, saying the intention was to still “move as a whole nation”.
Asked at the daily briefing whether lockdown could be eased regionally based on PHE data, he ruled out the idea. “We want to proceed as fast and as safely as we can because clearly there are benefits for children and clearly benefits for the wider economy,” he said. “I think it is best though, and the Government has said this repeatedly, that we move as a whole nation and that would include of course the whole of England in doing so.”
There is increasing concern among some ministers – including Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor – and many Tory
MPS about the potential for long-term damage to the economy.
Getting the capital back to work is key to minimising what Mr Sunak described as “scarring” of the economy, as London generates almost a quarter of the nation’s gross domestic product.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said it was “‘time to unlock”, adding: “We must get on with it. London is a significant chunk of the capability of the UK and this is on the decline everywhere.”
The Oxford analysis shows 41 of the 131 acute NHS trusts have not reported a single death from Covid-19 in the past 48 hours, despite recording 320 deaths between them in the same time frame around the peak of the crisis on April 7-8. Overall, some 40 per cent of all 217 NHS trusts have recorded no deaths for the past seven days.
NHS England yesterday announced just 166 new deaths of those tested positive. Deaths have fallen by about 100 every seven days for a month and there are fewer than 10,000 people in hospital for the first time since March.