Coronavirus news update, Britain

This 19 April 2020 video from Britain says about itself:

Michael Gove concedes PM missed Cobra coronavirus meetings

[Conservative minister] Michael Gove confirmed Boris Johnson missed five consecutive emergency meetings in the buildup to the coronavirus crisis. Speaking on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Gove earlier insisted a Sunday Times article detailing failures during this period had numerous inaccuracies and would be corrected. But in a subsequent interview on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, Gove accepted that Johnson missed the meetings.

By Bethany Rielly in Britain:

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Gove admits PM missed five Cobra meetings in the pandemic run-up

MICHAEL GOVE admitted today that Prime Minister Boris Johnson missed five Cobra meetings in the run-up to the coronavirus outbreak in Britain.

The government’s early handling of the crisis fell under the spotlight over the weekend after an investigation by the Sunday Times found ministers had missed a number of opportunities to lessen the impact of the pandemic, while supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) had been allowed to shrink due to austerity measures imposed by Conservative governments from 2010. Despite a 2016 pandemic drill concluding that the NHS would face drastic shortages of PPE and ventilators if a pandemic struck, ministers did not act on its recommendations.

Mr Johnson had skipped five Cobra meetings earlier this year, the Times reported, attending his first only on March 2 when almost 40 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed across the country.

This 19 April 2020 video from Britain says about itself:

UK government accused of ‘sleepwalking into disaster’ over coronavirus outbreak

‘I can’t give you a date’, the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said today about when schools would reopen.

In normal times many schools would be opening tomorrow after the Easter break. Meanwhile, frontline medical workers and social care staff in institutions continue to voice fears about a lack of adequate personal protective equipment or PPE.

The Sunday Times accused the UK government of “sleepwalking into disaster”.

Michael Gove said there were one or two things “off beam” about the article and the idea Boris Johnson skipped Cobra meetings was “grotesque”.

A now-notorious 2016 drill demonstrated to ministers that if a pandemic struck — and successive governments had affirmed that this was a real risk — the NHS would be overwhelmed, and in particular we would face severe shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators. Nothing was done. Part of the reason was austerity, the axe taken to public services and local government by David Cameron and George Osborne, that saw budgets cut, PPE stockpiles allowed to go out of date and created a “permanent winter crisis” for the health service that meant pandemic contingency training was dropped for more immediate tasks: here.

By Bethany Rielly in Britain:

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Thousands more could be dead in care homes than official figures show

THOUSANDS more people may have died in care homes from coronavirus than official figures suggest, a new study revealed today.

The study, conducted by the National Care Forum (NCF), adds to growing evidence that government figures severely underestimate the scale of the tragedy unfolding in care homes nationwide.

Data collected by the NCF, which represents not-for-profit adult social-care providers, suggests that 4,040 people may have died from Covid-19 up to April 13.

Burlington Court Care Home in Glasgow where 16 residents have died from coronavirus.

By Peter Lazenby in Britain:

Sunday, April 19, 2020

GP called ‘morally indefensible’ for saying care home residents will not receive hospital treatment for coronavirus as they are likely to die

A GLASGOW GP surgery’s approach to patients was branded “morally indefensible” today after telling the relatives of care-home residents that they would not be recommended for coronavirus treatment as they probably would not survive.

Relatives were told of the decision not to send their loved ones staying at the Ailsa Craig home to hospital if they contract the infection in a letter from the Midlock medical centre, which has 8,800 patients.

The letter said: “Evidence shows that the elderly and those with significant underlying medical conditions often do not recover.”

UK think tank urges pension cuts to pay for pandemic. By Margot Miller, 20 April 2020. Anticipating rising unemployment and collapsing wages, the Social Market Foundation urges the Conservative government to abandon the “triple-lock” mechanism.

The Social Market Foundation is a Thatcherite pressure group of Conservative and Blairite politicians, including right-wing corrupt Saudi regime-loving John Woodcock, suspended as a Labour MP for sexual harassment.

Millions in the UK go hungry in the shadow of COVID-19. By Harvey Singh, 20 April 2020. As well as a food crisis exacerbated by the pandemic, deteriorating housing conditions are a major negative factor for workers, placing them at increased risk of infection.

By Daniel Kebede in Britain:

Sunday, April 19, 2020

The government is failing our children, but reopening schools early is not the answer

I THINK it’s important we highlight the state of play for children entering the Covid-19 crisis, as the government neglecting children is nothing new. Since 2010 it has been government policy.

Over 1,000 Sure Start centres, which had the aim of giving children the best start in life often in the most disadvantaged areas, have vanished from our communities. Between 2010 and 2017 reductions in local authority funding meant the “early intervention” allocation fell by 64 per cent.

School budgets have been slashed by £5.4 billion since 2015 alone, with proposed increases in funding barely repairing the squeeze felt since austerity began according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.