You're citing heart attacks and strokes. I reckon if you're having a heart attack you'll take your chances
Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!
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You're citing heart attacks and strokes. I reckon if you're having a heart attack you'll take your chances
Not a very good defnce by the government when the overwhelming evidence is that they're guilt of what happened, and is still happening in care homes.
Downing Street rejects claims care homes forced to take coronavirus patients without proper support
And here are two of the main lines from the Downing Street lobby briefing.
Downing Street rejects claims care homes forced to take coronavirus patients without proper support
And here are two of the main lines from the Downing Street lobby briefing.
- The prime minister’s spokesman rejected claims that care homes were forced to take coronavirus patients without proper support. The spokesman said:
The allegation that care homes were forced to take patients with coronavirus being discharged from hospital, who then spread the infection, has been made repeatedly. Two articles have put the case particularly powerful. In this one (paywall) in the Sunday Times this weekend an anonymous care home boss said:
And in this Telegraph column (paywall) cited by Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs last week Ambrose Evans-Pritchard wrote:
Very good point and more of a focus on reducing illness/death from all viruses might be one of the few silver linings in this awful pandemic.
Wasn’t aware of that, is it back up now?
Tbf am surprised that some of the reporting systems have been as robust as they have been given they were built on the fly and have seen heavy demand.
peteblue
Welcome back Wayne
Where did you pluck the number 44,000 from......
peteblue
Welcome back Wayne
Massive enquiry needed at the end of all this mate, and the Tories need too look at how they have handled this and as you say, a complete overhaul needed.
Latest England hospital deaths in...
NHS England has announced 174 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 24,913.
Of the 174 new deaths announced today:
– 29 occurred on May 18
– 67 occurred on May 17
– 33 occurred on May 16
The figures also show 43 of the new deaths took place between May 6 and May 15 while the remaining two deaths occurred in April, with the earliest death on April 1.
NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for post-mortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated.
The figures published today by NHS England show April 8 continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day, with a current total of 889.
NHS England has announced 174 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 24,913.
Of the 174 new deaths announced today:
– 29 occurred on May 18
– 67 occurred on May 17
– 33 occurred on May 16
The figures also show 43 of the new deaths took place between May 6 and May 15 while the remaining two deaths occurred in April, with the earliest death on April 1.
NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for post-mortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated.
The figures published today by NHS England show April 8 continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths occurring on a single day, with a current total of 889.
arminisgod
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looks like the deaths are tumbling now. Does anyone know how many new cases there are?
I think right through this the government have blamed everyone else but themselves, and that Therese Coffey saying this is just taking the piss big style: " I think from pretty much a standing start, roughly in about mid-February I think it was, to get to a capacity and actual tests being done of 100,000 within about six weeks, I think is pretty full-on and actually I think something we can look on with pride.' lol
Now the government blames SCIENTISTS for Coronavirus failures: Furious finger-pointing breaks out over testing fiasco and failure to protect care homes as Cabinet minister Therese Coffey says blunders were down to 'wrong' science advice
A furious blame game erupted today as a Cabinet minister claimed government coronavirus blunders were down to 'wrong' science advice.
Therese Coffey insisted the government had just been following the guidance from experts as she fended off damning criticism from MPs over 'inadequate' testing.
The Science and Technology Committee found hospital staff, care home workers and residents were put at risk because of a lack of capacity for screening 'when the spread of the virus was at its most rampant'.
Routine testing for those with symptoms was abandoned on March 12, when the government shifted to its 'delay' phase, with checks reserved for hospital patients and health staff.
But the cross-party MPs said the failure to ramp up testing for the disease was the 'most consequential' error in the crisis, and crippled efforts to trace, track and isolate Britons with the disease.
Anger is also rising on the Tory backbenches, with one MP likening the response to a Morecambe and Wise comedy sketch.
Ms Coffey appeared to pass the buck again in a round of interviews this morning. Pushed on whether the government had made mistakes, she told Sky News that ministers could 'only make judgements and decisions based on the information and advice that we have at the time'. 'If the science advice at the time was wrong I am not surprised people think we made the wrong decision,' she said.
The extraordinary comment comes after the incoming president of the Royal Society, Sir Adrian Smith, warned politicians against putting blame on to scientists.
The ability to detect and crack down on cases is seen as crucial to getting the economy up and running, with unions warning workplaces and schools cannot be safe until the regime in in place.
The committee hit out at Public Health England for the 'pivotal decision' to shun smaller labs and failure to make a 'rigorous assessment' of countries such as South Korea and Germany that had successfully ramped up testing.
But PHE chief Duncan Selbie shot back that it was 'not responsible' for the testing strategy, which 'has been led by the Department of Health and Social Care'.
He insisted 'any testing facility with the right technology and containment' could have carried out checks after security restrictions were lowered on March 3.
In a letter to Boris Johnson, committee chairman Greg Clark identified a series of lessons to learn from the UK's handling of the outbreak.
It said capacity must 'urgently' be built up for contact tracing, a key tactic in helping ease existing lockdown measures.
Mr Clark said: 'Testing capacity has been inadequate for most of the pandemic so far.
'Capacity was not increased early enough or boldly enough. Capacity drove strategy, rather than strategy driving capacity.'
Mr Hancock announced on April 2 that he wanted to reach 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by the end of the month.
The goal was reached for the first time on April 30 but sparked accusations the figures had been inflated, as they included tests which had been posted out but not completed.
The milestone has been reached a handful of times since.
Mr Clark said PHE had repeatedly failed to answer questions over the 'pivotal' decision to ignore mass testing in favour of other tactics.
He said: 'The decision to pursue an approach of initially concentrating testing in a limited number of laboratories and to expand them gradually, rather than an approach of surging capacity through a large number of available public sector, research institute, university and private sector labs is one of the most consequential made during this crisis.
'From it followed the decision on March 12 to cease testing in the community and retreat to testing principally within hospitals.'
He said the decision meant that residents in care homes and care home workers could not be tested at a time when the spread of the virus was at its most rampant.
Mr Clark wrote: 'Had the public bodies responsible in this space themselves taken the initiative at the beginning of February, or even the beginning of March, rather than waiting until the Secretary of State imposed a target on April 2, knowledge of the spread of the pandemic and decisions about the response to it may have made more options available to decision makers at earlier stages.'
But in a statement to the BBC, Mr Selbie said the testing strategy was not PHE's responsibility.
'PHE did not constrain or seek to control any laboratory either public, university or commercial from conducting testing,' he said.
The committee also identified concerns over the transparency of its Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergency) membership amid concerns political interference could affect the guidance.
The report, based on evidence sessions with experts including Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government's chief scientific adviser, and Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, found the approach to dealing with asymptomatic carriers of Covid-19 was 'unclear'.
Separately, a care home chief blamed delayed advice and testing during a 'critical' period for having spread coronavirus throughout homes.
Barchester Healthcare chief executive Dr Pete Calveley, who said around two thirds of his homes have had Covid-19 cases, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We've had several weeks where their first reaction was to protect the NHS, where they wanted to discharge a lot of clients from hospital to make sure there was capacity for what they anticipated was a surcharge.
'And that meant a lot of people being discharged from care homes rather quickly who hadn't been tested and often we've seen where we've been doing large testing of care homes where asymptomatic staff, and particularly residents, are actually positive and therefore are freely moving through the home are infecting other residents and staff without anybody knowing about it until too late.'
Dr Calveley said there was a 'critical' period of up to four weeks before testing was available and advice was issued for staff to wear professional masks and isolation for new admissions.
'None of that advice came out until it was probably too late,' he said.
Furious MPs have previously demanded research papers underpinning the government's coronavirus strategy are immediately released.
One former minister told the Telegraph the government's handling of the crisis was reminiscent of the famous Morecambe and Wise sketch featuring André Previn, the pianist and composer.
The MP said: 'It's like when Previn turns to Eric and says: 'You're not playing the right notes' and Eric grabs him by the lapels and replies: 'I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order'. Everything has been the wrong way round.'
On the plan for a 14-day quarantine period on arrivals to the UK, they added: 'That should have happened at the beginning of the crisis, not at the end.'
Ms Coffey defended the Government's coronavirus testing record as having improved from a 'standing start'.
Responding to the Commons Science and Technology Committee's criticism, she told BBC Breakfast: 'We had a small amount of capacity at the very start, it was solely based on Public Health England's capability of being able to have about 2,000 tests a day.
'We had little capacity early on, I recognise that, we have got a lot of capacity now.
The row came as Downing Street announced the NHS contact tracing app – trailed on the Isle of Wight this month – will be launched across the country in the 'coming weeks'.
Now the government blames SCIENTISTS for Coronavirus failures: Furious finger-pointing breaks out over testing fiasco and failure to protect care homes as Cabinet minister Therese Coffey says blunders were down to 'wrong' science advice
A furious blame game erupted today as a Cabinet minister claimed government coronavirus blunders were down to 'wrong' science advice.
Therese Coffey insisted the government had just been following the guidance from experts as she fended off damning criticism from MPs over 'inadequate' testing.
The Science and Technology Committee found hospital staff, care home workers and residents were put at risk because of a lack of capacity for screening 'when the spread of the virus was at its most rampant'.
Routine testing for those with symptoms was abandoned on March 12, when the government shifted to its 'delay' phase, with checks reserved for hospital patients and health staff.
But the cross-party MPs said the failure to ramp up testing for the disease was the 'most consequential' error in the crisis, and crippled efforts to trace, track and isolate Britons with the disease.
Anger is also rising on the Tory backbenches, with one MP likening the response to a Morecambe and Wise comedy sketch.
Ms Coffey appeared to pass the buck again in a round of interviews this morning. Pushed on whether the government had made mistakes, she told Sky News that ministers could 'only make judgements and decisions based on the information and advice that we have at the time'. 'If the science advice at the time was wrong I am not surprised people think we made the wrong decision,' she said.
The extraordinary comment comes after the incoming president of the Royal Society, Sir Adrian Smith, warned politicians against putting blame on to scientists.
The ability to detect and crack down on cases is seen as crucial to getting the economy up and running, with unions warning workplaces and schools cannot be safe until the regime in in place.
The committee hit out at Public Health England for the 'pivotal decision' to shun smaller labs and failure to make a 'rigorous assessment' of countries such as South Korea and Germany that had successfully ramped up testing.
But PHE chief Duncan Selbie shot back that it was 'not responsible' for the testing strategy, which 'has been led by the Department of Health and Social Care'.
He insisted 'any testing facility with the right technology and containment' could have carried out checks after security restrictions were lowered on March 3.
In a letter to Boris Johnson, committee chairman Greg Clark identified a series of lessons to learn from the UK's handling of the outbreak.
It said capacity must 'urgently' be built up for contact tracing, a key tactic in helping ease existing lockdown measures.
Mr Clark said: 'Testing capacity has been inadequate for most of the pandemic so far.
'Capacity was not increased early enough or boldly enough. Capacity drove strategy, rather than strategy driving capacity.'
Mr Hancock announced on April 2 that he wanted to reach 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by the end of the month.
The goal was reached for the first time on April 30 but sparked accusations the figures had been inflated, as they included tests which had been posted out but not completed.
The milestone has been reached a handful of times since.
Mr Clark said PHE had repeatedly failed to answer questions over the 'pivotal' decision to ignore mass testing in favour of other tactics.
He said: 'The decision to pursue an approach of initially concentrating testing in a limited number of laboratories and to expand them gradually, rather than an approach of surging capacity through a large number of available public sector, research institute, university and private sector labs is one of the most consequential made during this crisis.
'From it followed the decision on March 12 to cease testing in the community and retreat to testing principally within hospitals.'
He said the decision meant that residents in care homes and care home workers could not be tested at a time when the spread of the virus was at its most rampant.
Mr Clark wrote: 'Had the public bodies responsible in this space themselves taken the initiative at the beginning of February, or even the beginning of March, rather than waiting until the Secretary of State imposed a target on April 2, knowledge of the spread of the pandemic and decisions about the response to it may have made more options available to decision makers at earlier stages.'
But in a statement to the BBC, Mr Selbie said the testing strategy was not PHE's responsibility.
'PHE did not constrain or seek to control any laboratory either public, university or commercial from conducting testing,' he said.
The committee also identified concerns over the transparency of its Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergency) membership amid concerns political interference could affect the guidance.
The report, based on evidence sessions with experts including Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government's chief scientific adviser, and Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, found the approach to dealing with asymptomatic carriers of Covid-19 was 'unclear'.
Separately, a care home chief blamed delayed advice and testing during a 'critical' period for having spread coronavirus throughout homes.
Barchester Healthcare chief executive Dr Pete Calveley, who said around two thirds of his homes have had Covid-19 cases, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'We've had several weeks where their first reaction was to protect the NHS, where they wanted to discharge a lot of clients from hospital to make sure there was capacity for what they anticipated was a surcharge.
'And that meant a lot of people being discharged from care homes rather quickly who hadn't been tested and often we've seen where we've been doing large testing of care homes where asymptomatic staff, and particularly residents, are actually positive and therefore are freely moving through the home are infecting other residents and staff without anybody knowing about it until too late.'
Dr Calveley said there was a 'critical' period of up to four weeks before testing was available and advice was issued for staff to wear professional masks and isolation for new admissions.
'None of that advice came out until it was probably too late,' he said.
Furious MPs have previously demanded research papers underpinning the government's coronavirus strategy are immediately released.
One former minister told the Telegraph the government's handling of the crisis was reminiscent of the famous Morecambe and Wise sketch featuring André Previn, the pianist and composer.
The MP said: 'It's like when Previn turns to Eric and says: 'You're not playing the right notes' and Eric grabs him by the lapels and replies: 'I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order'. Everything has been the wrong way round.'
On the plan for a 14-day quarantine period on arrivals to the UK, they added: 'That should have happened at the beginning of the crisis, not at the end.'
Ms Coffey defended the Government's coronavirus testing record as having improved from a 'standing start'.
Responding to the Commons Science and Technology Committee's criticism, she told BBC Breakfast: 'We had a small amount of capacity at the very start, it was solely based on Public Health England's capability of being able to have about 2,000 tests a day.
'We had little capacity early on, I recognise that, we have got a lot of capacity now.
The row came as Downing Street announced the NHS contact tracing app – trailed on the Isle of Wight this month – will be launched across the country in the 'coming weeks'.
Just heard on radio they are considering having another bank holiday in late October to help the tourism industry.
I'm certainly not against the idea, although can't see everyone wanting to head off to the seaside the week the clocks go back !
I'm certainly not against the idea, although can't see everyone wanting to head off to the seaside the week the clocks go back !
tsubaki
Player Valuation: £90m
If one of the top five recommendations out of this post pandemic public inquiry isn’t “switch social media off for the duration” then the world is doomed.
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