Virus claims eighth life in UK as pandemic declared
THE global coronavirus outbreak is a pandemic, the World Health Organisation (WHO), has said, as eight people were last night confirmed to have died in the UK.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said that the number of cases of Covid-19 outside China has increased 13-fold in the past two weeks, and the number of affected countries has tripled.
He said individual countries could still change the course of the virus through their actions, but said: “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of Covid-19 cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries, climb even higher. WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.
“We have therefore made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterised as a pandemic.”
Some 460 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the UK – after four new cases were confirmed in Wales yesterday – up from 382 on Tuesday, and comes as two more deaths in the UK were announced yesterday, taking the total who have died in British hospitals to eight.
THE Chancellor has promised the NHS “whatever it needs” in terms of funding to tackle the spread of coronavirus, as the number of UK cases more than doubled in just four days and the World Health Organisation confirmed the crisis as a pandemic.
Rishi Sunak set out plans for the health service in his Budget and pledged security and support for those who are sick and unable to work due to the spread of Covid-19.
Some 460 people have now tested positive for coronavirus in the UK – after four new cases were confirmed in Wales yesterday – up from 382 on Tuesday. This is the largest day-on-day jump in cases – more than doubling in just four days.
Two more deaths in the UK were announced yesterday, taking the total who have died in British hospitals to eight.
The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust said a patient in their 70s being treated for underlying health conditions had died after testing positive for Covid19. And the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust in Warwickshire said an elderly patient, from Nuneaton, being treated for a number of serious underlying health conditions, had also died.
Earlier, a 53-year-old British woman was reported to have died from Covid19 in Indonesia.
Mr Sunak said: “Whatever extra resources our NHS needs to cope with coronavirus it will get...Whether it’s millions of pounds or billions of pounds, whatever it needs, whatever it costs, we stand behind our NHS.”
Mr Sunak said he was setting aside a £5bn emergency response fund to support the NHS and other public services, adding that he “will go further if necessary”.
It comes after the Government said there were no plans to test any ministers, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for Covid-19 after health minister Nadine Dorries announced she had the virus.
PHE said it had assessed the risk of Ms Dorries’ individual close contacts and only those with symptoms need to self-isolate.
For each Covid-19 case, a risk assessment is carried out and advice tailored to that group, a spokeswoman told the PA news agency.
Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell said she is self-isolating on the advice of 111 following a meeting with Ms Dorries last Thursday.
Ms Maskell tweeted: “NHS111 have advised that I self-isolate as a result of a meeting I had with the Government’s Mental Health Minister last Thursday who has subsequently tested positive for Coronovirus. Thankfully I am asymptomatic. It is so important that we all follow all public health advice.”
Ms Maskell told the PA news agency that just herself, Ms Dorries and members of the minister’s staff were present at the meeting on Thursday.
She said: “I’m absolutely fine, obviously it’s frustrating because there are things I want to get on with.”
A Conservative MP also confirmed that Ms Dorries had sent a message to the Tory WhatsApp group saying that a member of her staff is ill.
Ms Dorries’ parliamentary office remains closed following advice from PHE for it to stay shut.
The health minister tweeted thanks to her well-wishers, adding: “It’s been pretty rubbish but I hope I’m over the worst of it now.
“More worried about my 84yo mum who is staying with me and began with the cough today. She is being tested tomorrow. Keep safe and keep washing those hands, everyone.”
Ms Dorries, the 62-year-old MP for Mid Bedfordshire, attended a Downing Street event on Thursday hosted by the Prime Minister to mark International Women’s Day.
But it is understood the PM had no close contact with Ms Dorries at the event, and has no symptoms, meaning he does not need a test.
A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Johnson “wished Nadine Dorries a speedy recovery”.
Ms Dorries held a surgery in her
constituency on Friday morning which was attended by up to 12 people, according to Steven Dixon, chair of the Mid Bedfordshire Conservative Association. Details of those who attended have been passed to the NHS, he said.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told MPs last night that Parliament will be kept open. He also said an emergency Bill we will put before the Commons next week on measures to tackle coronavirus.
He said he understood how worried people were, but added: “The best way to beat it is for us to work together and we’ll do whatever it takes, we’ll give the NHS whatever it needs and we’ll do all that we can to keep people safe and get through this together as a Parliament and as a nation.”
In other developments:
■ A patient with an underlying illness became the first person in the Republic of Ireland to die after testing positive for the illness;
■ NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens announced plans to “invite up to 18,000 third year undergraduate nurses to help out on the frontline” in the battle against coronavirus;
■ England’s cricketers have been instructed not to sign autographs or pose for selfies with fans during their test tour of Sri Lanka, while Manchester City’s Premier League clash with Arsenal has been postponed as a “precautionary measure” over coronavirus fears;
■ The NHS in England is “ramping up” testing facilities so that 10,000 coronavirus tests can be performed each day;
■ Cambodian health authorities are testing people on a cruise boat docked in Kampong Cham, Cambodia, after a British passenger was reported to be infected with Covid-19. The vessel had sailed from Vietnam;
■ British nationals from the Grand Princess cruise ship in the port of Oakland, California, landed in Birmingham yesterday afternoon and are being asked to go into self-isolation; and
■ The Bank of England announced an emergency cut in interest rates from 0.75% to 0.25% in response to the economic impact of coronavirus
A 53-year-old British woman is reported to have died from Covid-19 in Indonesia.
She was ill with other health conditions, including diabetes and lung disease, the Indonesian government said.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said it was offering support, adding: “Our sympathies and thoughts are with her family at this difficult time.”
Another British man died in February after becoming infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.
ASOUTH Wales Police officer has tested positive for coronavirus as four new cases were confirmed in Wales yesterday.
The force confirmed yesterday afternoon that an officer has tested positive for Covid-19.
A spokeswoman said Merthyr Tydfil police station, where the officer is based, was closed on Tuesday night while a deep-clean was carried out. The officer is now said to be self-isolating at home.
A police spokeswoman said: “South Wales Police can confirm that an officer based in Merthyr Tydfil police station has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and is self-isolating at home.
“As a precaution, the station, on Rhydycar Business Park, was closed last night (Tuesday). A deep-clean has been carried out and staff resumed normal duties from there this morning.
“The force has been in close consultation with Public Health Wales and the policing service to the local community was unaffected by the temporary closure.”
The four new confirmed cases bring the total of Welsh cases to 19, the nation’s chief medical officer has said.
Dr Frank Atherton said three of the new cases – two from the Powys area and one from the Swansea area – had returned to Wales from northern Italy.
A fourth person from the Caerphilly area has no history of travel to another country where the virus is present, and is not known to have had contact with anyone else with it.
Yesterday Dr Atherton said: “I can confirm that four additional individuals in Wales have tested positive for coronavirus (Covid19), bringing the total number of positive cases in Wales to 19.
“All of the individuals are being managed in clinically appropriate settings. All appropriate measures to provide care for the individuals and to reduce the risk of transmission to others are being taken.
“We have always been clear that we expected the number of positive cases to increase, which is in line with what has happened in other parts of the world.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to assure the public that Wales and the whole of the UK is prepared for these types of incidents. Working with our partners in Wales and the UK, we have implemented our planned response, with robust infection control measures in place to protect the
health of the public.”
Dr Robin Howe, incident director for the Novel Coronavirus outbreak response at Public Health Wales, said the NHS body had begun identifying and reaching out to people who have had contact with the new cases.
Dr Howe said: “The public can be assured that Wales and the whole of the UK is prepared for these types of incidents. Working with our partners in Wales and the UK, we have implemented our planned response, with robust infection control measures in place to protect the health of the public.”
The latest figure on the number of people who have been tested will be released by Public Health Wales today, with 634 people confirmed as of last Friday.
Earlier yesterday, it was confirmed a worker at the Office for National Statistics in Newport had tested positive for the virus.
A spokesman for the ONS said: “There has been one confirmed case of the Covid-19 virus at the ONS site in Newport and we are taking appropriate steps to protect the well-being of all our people.
“The Newport site remains open, although we will continue to monitor our operations in line with official public health and government guidance.”
Health Minister Vaughan Gething, speaking in the Senedd yesterday, said 11 “drive-thru” coronavirus testing centres had been set up across the country.
However, Plaid Cymru health spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth warned there was not enough capacity in critical care units in Wales to deal with an influx of coronavirus patients.
He said hotels “could be put on standby” to operate like “emergency hospitals” and all eventualities should be planned for.
He said: “The Welsh Government must be more detailed in outlining what extra capacity is available in the Welsh NHS.
“We know that the UK already has a low critical-care bed capacity compared with most other developed countries, and that Wales’ critical bed capacity is in turn lower than the UK average. However, the health minister has been unable to tell us how capacity will increase.
“Hotels could be put on standby as emergency hospitals, and field hospitals under the supervision of the army should also form part of the response. We hope it won’t come to that, but we have to plan for all eventualities.”
BUSINESSES in Wales have faced several worries in recent weeks, starting with the flooding that resulted from Storms Dennis, Ciara and Jorge – the damage from which some businesses will still be dealing with in months to come – and followed swiftly by the emergence of coronavirus as a potential threat to business certainty.
So how can businesses prepare for a crisis that may pose a challenge to their day-to-day operations?
At FSB, we’ve been talking to our members about business continuity and how taking stock of the business can help prepare for all eventualities.
It’s important to listen to advice from the UK and Welsh governments to remain calm and take some sensible precautions.
One of those precautions can be to review the business and look at how it is possible to manage any potential disruption. For example, how would a business be able to accommodate staff working from home? Could there be potential supply chain disruption, and how would this be dealt with?
These are just a couple of the issues that businesses may face and it’s important to plan how this can be mitigated.
The Welsh Government has recently announced that it will add coronavirus to the list of notifiable diseases, which means that some small businesses will be able to claim under insurance for any losses that may be caused by the virus.
However, this does not automatically mean that all businesses are covered. Now is a really good time for businesses to contact their providers, review their policies and work out where they stand.
FSB also has support available for members both through our free legal advice service and through FSB Insurance, which provides free templates and guidance for a Business
Continuity Plan (BCP). Just one in three businesses is currently thought to have a BCP, and this kind of early planning can help minimise the disruption felt within the business.
At FSB, we’re also concerned that self-employed individuals are among those who are not eligible for statutory sick pay. As a result, we’re calling on the UK Government to implement a hardship fund to support those who do not have the safety net of statutory sick-pay.
Coronavirus is not the only business disruption that Welsh businesses have been contemplating.
The aftermath of the flooding that took place in locations across the country is likely to last for several months in some cases.
This week, after much lobbying by FSB Wales, the Welsh Government announced that, alongside providing funding for discretionary business rates relief for three months for affected businesses, there would also be a grant of £2,500 for those businesses trying to recover from the floods.
This will be administered by Business Wales, and more information is available on their website.
Clearly, the focus for now will remain on dealing with the immediate after-effects of the storms and helping businesses to get back on their feet.
However, in the longer term it is clear that a conversation about Wales’ resilience and flood infrastructure is necessary. We must also take into account the readiness of businesses to deal with such a crisis and how they can be helped to implement planning structures in the future.
While none of us can predict the future, businesses can be supported to undertake the planning that can help them take unexpected events in their stride, and do as much as possible to mitigate disruption to their day-to-day operations.