UK’S deadliest day as toll up by almost 1,000
Stark warning from UK Government expert as coronavirus death toll reaches highest level yet meaning little chance of lifting lockdown measures, reports Michael Settle
BRITAIN remains in a “dangerous phase” of the coronavirus outbreak as the country recorded the deadliest day to date with a record rise of almost 1,000 in 24 hours, a UK Government expert has warned.
The warning came as Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, insisted there was enough personal protective equipment (PPE) to go around if it is used in line with official guidance, stressing how there was a “Herculean logistical effort” under way to provide enough kit to frontline healthcare staff.
Noting this Easter weekend would be “another test of the nation’s resolve,” he made a plea for people not to go out and socialise, saying: “However warm the weather, however tempting your local beach or park, we need everyone to stay at home.
“Because in hospitals across the country, NHS staff are battling day and night to keep desperately sick people breathing, and they need you to stay at home.”
The latest statistics showed that across the UK the daily increase in the death toll rose by 980 to 8,958, including a rise of 48 in Scotland to
495. The UK daily rise even surpassed those of Spain and Italy. The overall number of those infected across the UK jumped by 5,195 to 70,272.
At the daily Downing Street press conference, England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-tam, referring to data from March 16 to
April 10 on a graph, said: “You can see the broad trend, that we have been in an increase phase and we are now at a point where we are at a high level and the numbers are varying day by day.
“We are in a dangerous phase still. And I need to reinforce that again to you, that this is not over.”
On the number of people occupying hospital beds after being diagnosed with Covid-19 between March 20 and April 9, he pointed out: “There has been a steady increase but possibly you can see that the curve is bending.
“It’s impossible to say we have peaked. London has gone down in the last day but Yorkshire and the North East has gone up.”
Mr Van-tam also made clear that even when the outbreak was under control, there would still be a low level of infection for some time to come.
He said: “It won’t go from a position of widespread community transmission amongst our own people to a position of zero transmission.
“We will likely go back to low levels of transmission and the virus will continue to be here in and around us in our communities, I suspect for a very long time, even if we can keep the levels right down.”
Announcing a new Government plan on PPE, Mr Hancock said: “There’s enough PPE to go around but only if it’s used in line with guidance. We need everyone to treat PPE like the precious resource that it is. That means only using it when there’s a clinical need, and not using more than is needed.”
The Secretary of State reported that more than 742 million pieces of PPE had been delivered so far during the outbreak, including 161m masks,
127 million aprons, 1m gowns, and 345m pairs of gloves, which have gone to hospitals, ambulance trusts, GPS, social care and pharmacies.
On distribution, he stressed: “This is a Herculean logistical effort. We’ve brought together the NHS, private industry and the Army, in fact, the armed forces, to create a giant PPE distribution network on an unprecedented scale.”
But Susan Masters, for the Royal College of Nursing, said: “These figures on deliveries are only impressive when nursing staff stop contacting me to say what they need to use wasn’t available.
“The calls are still coming through; people are petrified. They have seen colleagues die already.
“Things have improved in recent days and I credit the Government with that. But the safety of nurses and care staff must not be compromised.”
She added: “They are pretty clear about what they need to do to stay safe and they will be angered by any suggestion they cause shortages by misusing kit.”
On testing, Mr Hancock admitted there was still a “lot of work” to do to hit the target he set of 100,000 daily Covid-19 tests by the end of this month; 19,116 were carried out across Great Britain on Thursday.
But he insisted the Government was “working 24/7 to hit it,” and added: “Everyone can see the daily trajectory, which has almost doubled since I set it and we’ve clearly got a lot of work to get to our 100,000, but we are on track.”
Earlier, the prospect of lockdown restrictions being eased at different times in different parts of the country was raised.
Thus far, the instructions to the public on self-isolation and social distancing have been adopted Uk-wide. Downing Street pointed out all the devolved administrations had moved “in lock-step” with the UK Government on the basis of the decisions taken by Whitehall’s emergency Cobra committee.
At her daily press conference, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Government was supporting the aim of “seeking to have a Uk-wide approach and come out of lockdown at the same time”.
However, her Welsh counterpart Mark Drakeford stressed his government would not be bound by Westminster over when to end lockdown measures as he warned that restrictions could get worse if people flouted social distancing rules.
The Welsh FM said he would only relax social distancing measures in Wales “when the evidence shows it is safe” and would not be “looking over our shoulders at what others are doing”.
Mr Drakeford insisted: “We will do the right thing for Wales at the time that it is right for Wales.”
We will likely go back to low levels of transmission and the virus will continue to be here in and around us