With the UK hospital death toll from coronavirus having risen
to 18,100 (a daily rise of 759), and an increasing focus
on issues such as the lack of PPE for frontline workers, the
death toll in care homes and low testing rates, the Health
Secretary gave his first update on Covid-19 since the House
returned from recess.
Health Secretary: a "global effort"
told the House that
3,000 critical care beds were now spare, with four new
Nightingale hospitals (large, temporary critical care
facilities) having opened across the UK and more to open
soon.
Mr Hancock emphasised that "non-Covid NHS services are open"
to patients and encouraged people to continue to contact
their GPs if they were concerned for their health for
non-coronavirus related reasons.
He said that there was a focus on "boosting supplies of core
equipment", such as ventilators, medicines and personal
protective equipment (PPE). Mr Hancock said they were
"constantly working" to procure more PPE and thanked British
businesses who had offered their services
as manufacturers.
The Minister told MPs that he wanted to "scale up testing",
which includes expanding those eligible for testing
and setting a goal of 100,000 tests a day. Mr Hancock
also emphasised the role of "contact tracing at large scale",
noting the development of a new NHS app to facilitate
this.
He stated that the UK had put more money into the "global
effort to find a vaccine" than any other country, noting that
the Government had awarded £40 million to two potential
vaccines in development at Oxford University and Imperial
College London.
The Secretary of State for Health and Social
Care stated:
"I will keep working with Members right across the House in
the fight against this invisible killer."
: "one of the worst
death rates in Europe"
Responding on behalf of the Opposition, the Shadow Secretary
of State for Health and Social Care, asked the Health
Secretary for the number of social care staff who had died
from coronavirus (in PMQs earlier First Secretary was unable to disclose the figure).
He also asked for deaths in care homes to be reported daily,
for workers to be able to visit local testing facilities
(reports have suggested that many care workers have been
required to travel long distances to reach testing centres)
and for PPE to be delivered on a mass scale to care
homes.
Mr Ashworth said that it "looks like we are heading to one of
the worst death rates in Europe", and questioned the Minister
and Government scientists on why this was the case,
particularly compared to countries such as Germany. He called
on the Minister to release the briefings conducted around
procurement schemes for ventilators and PPE.
He also asked for the minutes of SAGE (the Scientific
Advisory Group for Emergencies) to be published, and asked
for the publication of the evidence behind the UK's advice to
isolate for seven days after displaying symptoms of
coronavirus, when the World Health Organisation advocated for
a 14-day isolation period.
Mr Ashworth also asked for an update on the inquiry into the
disproportionate deaths amongst black and minority ethnic
people that the Minister launched last week.
He said:
"Many people are understandably angry that frontline staff
don't seem to be getting PPE on time and that we don't seem
to have taken part in some of the European procurement
projects."
