Coronavirus: London hospital admissions stabilise on ‘sombre’ day for UK
The number of coronavirus patients in London hospitals is stabilising but admissions elsewhere have risen as the UK reached a “sombre” milestone of 10,000 deaths.
Speaking at the government’s daily briefing, Yvonne Doyle, medical director of Public Health England, said the number of people in hospital beds in the capital was levelling out, but was increasing in the north west, north east and Yorkshire.
“It’s important the message about staying at home and social distancing is adhered to because we’re certainly not past this virus damage yet,” she said.
It came as health secretary Matt Hancock said it was a “sombre day in the impact of this disease”.
The UK today recorded another 737 diseases from coronavirus, bringing the total death toll past 10,000.
Hancock said there were 2,295 spare critical care beds across the UK — an increase of 150 from yesterday.
He said the increase in beds, which did not include the new Nightingale Hospital at the Excel Centre, meant there was now more spare capacity for critical care than when the UK outbreak started.
Asked about shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical staff, the health secretary said the government was working “very hard” to ramp up supply.
Roughly 121,0000 gowns have been delivered across the country in the last two days, he said, adding that there were now “record amounts” of PPE in the health system.
It comes amid criticism that NHS and care staff are being forced to put their own health at risk due to a lack of appropriate equipment.
The health secretary said he did not have an update on the number of NHS staff that have died from the virus beyond the figure of 19 he gave yesterday.
“We are looking into each circumstance to understand — as much as is possible — how they caught the virus,” he said. “Whether that was at work, outside of work, and the clinical setting that they were working in.”
Hancock also confirmed plans to launch a new NHS app that will track potential contact with people who have contracted the virus.
“If you become unwell with the symptoms of coronavirus, you can securely tell this new NHS app,” he said.
“The app will then send an alert, anonymously, to other app users that you’ve been in significant contact with over the past few days, even before you had symptoms. So that they know and can act accordingly.”
The app has sparked some concerns about privacy, with tech experts warning it could be used as a “means of social control”.
But Hancock said any data would be handled in compliance with privacy laws.
The daily briefing came hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson was discharged from hospital. Johnson, who spent three nights in intensive care, has moved to Chequers to recuperate and will not return to work immediately.
Reiterating the government’s primary message, Hancock today urged people to following social distancing measures, adding that the outcome of the virus was “unknowable” because it depended on how people behaved.
“The future path of this pandemic in this country is determined by how people act.” he said. “That’s why it’s so important that people follow the social distancing guidelines.”