PM and Starmer clash over virus deaths in homes
MINISTERS ‘TOO SLOW’ – LABOUR LEADER
BORIS Johnson has accused Sir Keir Starmer of “selectively and misleadingly” quoting from official guidance which said in March that it was “very unlikely” care home residents would become infected with Covid-19.
The Prime Minister and Labour leader clashed over the issue at PMQs in the Commons yesterday, during which Mr Johnson admitted that the number of deaths in the sector had been “too high”.
Figures released this week suggested that care home deaths accounted for some 40% of coronavirus-related fatalities registered in England and Wales in the week ending May 1.
Sir Keir told MPs the Government had been “too slow to protect people in care homes” and referred to official advice in place until March 12, which said it was “very unlikely” that those receiving care in a care home or the community will become infected.
Mr Johnson replied: “No, it wasn’t true that the advice said that, and actually we brought the lockdown in care homes ahead of the general lockdown.”
The Labour leader then sent a letter to the PM asking him to “correct the record” in the Commons and to “recognise that this was official Government guidance regarding care homes”.
In his reply, Mr Johnson wrote: “I am disappointed that in the House today you chose to quote Public Health England (PHE) advice selectively and misleadingly, and I stand by my comments.”
The PM pointed to the sentence preceding the one quoted by Sir Keir, which said the guidance was “intended for the current position in the UK where there is currently no transmission of Covid-19 in the community”.
Mr Johnson said the Labour leader “neglected to provide the critical context at the start of the guidance”.
Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer for England, told the daily Downing Street press conference that “we did not recognise there was any sustained community transmission” before March 13.
However, by March 12 there had been 31 coronavirus-related deaths in England, including one in a care home, according to Office for National Statistics analysis of death registration data.
On the same day, Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government’s chief scientific adviser, said the number of people infected in the UK at that point could be between 5,000 and 10,000.
Earlier that month, on March 5, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty told MPs it was “highly likely” there is “community transmission” of coronavirus in the UK.
And on March 10, Dr Harries said the start of the UK peak of the coronavirus epidemic was expected within the next fortnight.
Analysis of official figures suggests there have been just under 41,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the UK in total.
Mr Johnson said it had been an “appalling epidemic” and that the final death toll would be “stark” and “deeply horrifying” as he sought to explain why the Government has stopped publishing international comparisons at the daily Downing Street press briefing.
He told Sir Keir that such comparisons are “premature” because “the correct and final way of making these comparisons will be when we have all the excess death totals for all the relevant countries”. He added: “We do not yet have that data.
“I’m not going to try to pretend to the House that the figures, when they are finally confirmed, are anything other than stark and deeply, deeply horrifying.
“This has been an appalling epidemic.”
Mr Johnson also announced a £600 million package for coronavirus infection control in English care homes.