Living on the Covid front line
BBC1, 9pm AS Britain enjoys a relaxing of the rules, this insightful documentary from TV doctor twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken serves as a stern reminder that we are still in the middle of a terrifying pandemic.
Chris is an infectious diseases doctor at University College London Hospital and has been called back to the front line, where he witnesses the devastation first hand.
Meanwhile, Xand, who is volunteering with humanitarian aid groups, was struck down by coronavirus, which has taken its toll on his health.
As the brothers watch the crisis close up, this film has special access to UCLH as it deals with the pandemic on its infection wards and also gives an insight into Xand’s experience. “I know how nasty it can be,” he says, having struggled through lockdown while living alone.
After contracting coronavirus, he was left with heart problems, eventually being rushed to A&E to be defibrillated.
There are tense and emotional scenes as Chris watches on.
“I wasn’t expecting the flatline for quite so long afterwards,” he says.
In other scenes, Xand visits a care home that lost seven residents to Covid in just 12 days.
And cameras follow the plight of hospital patient Florentino, a Portuguese restaurateur who has been on life support for weeks. “Every day we’re getting bad news,” says his daughter Denise, “but I have to stay strong. I have to have hope.”
And Chris warns: “We are still so vulnerable to every aspect of this virus.”