Covid19 - reality check

Discussion in 'U.K.' started by Deleted member 157313, Mar 9, 2020.

  1. LittleBitOfHope

    LittleBitOfHope Members

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    What you are saying is completely correct, I don't understand why people are stock piling as this pandemic doesn't cause you to (excuse my language) have the shits. It's also ridiculous that people are "learning to wash their hands" again. I mean seriously, you go around town and you have signs in shop windows saying 1 hand sanister per customer and that just makes me laugh at how stupid some people can be
     
  2. Vladimir Illich

    Vladimir Illich Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Phut !!! and out went all the lights !!!


    British households told to prepare for blackouts as coronavirus lockdown goes on
    Vulnerable people told to ‘keep a torch, hat, gloves and blanket handy’


    British households have been told to prepare for blackouts by keeping torches and warm clothes handy as the coronavirus lockdown continues.

    Energy firms have suspended all non-essential work as they brace for a potential shortage in engineers caused by staff sickness and self-isolation.


    The National Grid has sought to reassure the British public it can cope with the surge in demand as people stay indoors and work from home during the outbreak.

    However, UK Power Networks, which provides electricity to the southeast and east of England, including London, has written to vulnerable customers with advice on what to do if there is a power cut.


    In a letter to those on the firm’s priority services register, seen by The Daily Telegraph, UK Power Networks gives customers guidance on how to stay warm, keep medicines and food as cold as possible and how to make sure they can call for help.

    Customers are advised to keep a “torch handy” as well as “a hat, gloves and blanket” and to trap heat inside their property by closing curtains and doors to any unused rooms.


    Vulnerable customers, including those who are elderly, have a disability or medical condition, or have children under the age of five, are told they should keep a power bank fully charged in case their mobile phone battery dies and to use a corded telephone if they can.

    The electricity firm also advises fridge and freezer doors should be kept closed to keep essential food and medicines cold.

    Food should keep for between four to six hours in the fridge and 15 to 24 hours in the freezer if you can avoid opening it, it added.

    In an update on its website, UK Power Networks said it was “postponing lower priority work” but that all essential work would continue “including fixing power cuts on the rare occasions they happen”.

    In the event an engineer needs to enter a home to restore power, they will wear protective equipment, stay in a different room from people who are infected or self-isolating, and avoid touching surfaces, the power distributor said.

    It added: “Put simply, our top two priorities are the safety of our staff and customers and keeping the lights on, so that essential services are provided to our communities and that today’s high-tech lifestyles can continue.”

    Nicola Shaw, UK executive director for National Grid, has insisted no one should be concerned about their energy supply as more of us stay at home.

    She added: “In fact, demand across the country is expected to reduce; largely owing to a decrease in energy use from industrial consumers, which is likely to be greater than the increase in domestic demand as people stay at home.”

    Other energy firms, including Electricity North West and Western Power Distribution, have reassured customers they have “extensive and robust” plans to minimise impact on them.

    While ScottishPower Energy Networks said it had “special measures” in place to protect power supply for “critical national infrastructure and public service sites; including hospitals, nursing homes, food supply chain businesses, Ministry of Defence sites and prisons”.

    The Energy Networks Association (ENA) reassured customers the network is operating as it should.

    Chief executive David Smith said: “We have one of the most reliable electricity networks in the world, supported by stringent contingency plans and a workforce of 36,000 people.”
     
  3. I'minmyunderwear

    I'minmyunderwear Newbie

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    ^ i sure hope "torch" means something different in britain than it does here. because all i can picture is a flaming rag at the end of a stick, that someone is holding in one hand with a pitchfork in the other.
     
    LittleBitOfHope likes this.
  4. tikoo

    tikoo Senior Member

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  5. Vladimir Illich

    Vladimir Illich Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    I don't know about anyone else, but this profiteering is despicable, but then that is capitalism - greedy scumbags !!!



    Companies Sell Coronavirus Tests To Anyone Who Can Pay While NHS Staff Go Without
    Private companies are under fire for continuing to sell tests as government struggles to support frontline medics.

    Companies selling coronavirus tests commercially online have been slammed for acting “unethically” at a time when the government is struggling to provide vital testing to frontline NHS workers.


    HuffPost UK has found some private companies have redirected sales of coronavirus tests kits to support the national fight against Covid-19.

    But others are continuing to sell kits online to anyone who can afford to pay, with tests retailing for prices between £249 and £299.

    It comes as health secretary Matt Hancock vowed Britain would test 100,000 people a day by the end of April during Thursday’s daily news conference.

    CityDoc and Better2Know, both large established firms that provide private healthcare testing services, are advertising kits for sale – and say NHS staff are among those buying the tests.

    But the practice has come under fire as “unethical”, with one NHS scientist, speaking anonymously to HuffPost UK, saying: “The kits all should be coming to the NHS now. It should be under government control and then distributed that way.

    [​IMG]
    CityDoc is offering Covid-19 test for sale online for £249
    “It is irresponsible and they should be coming straight into the frontline and into the NHS. This shouldn’t be a profit making thing at all.”

    MP David Lammy said testing should be prioritised by need.

    “We cannot have one rule for the rich and another for everyone else,” he said. “In this pandemic, Covid-19 tests should be prioritised to those who need them the most.

    “No NHS worker should be paying a penny for the tests they need to do their jobs.”

    But CityDoc, which is selling testing kits online for £249, said far from being irresponsible it was in the public interest that testing is available commercially.

    The company’s CEO Eoghan MacSweeney said: “I think there has to be as much testing done as possible. The NHS is doing everything it can.

    “I think what we’re doing is also part of the national effort. What we’re sourcing isn’t necessarily detracting from what the NHS is purchasing. it’s simply just more testing, which is what the World Health Organisation is recommending.”

    He said many NHS staff have used CityDoc’s private service and there was high demand from companies looking for testing for their workers.

    CityDoc is currently providing antigen testing, which detects the presence of Covid-19, and it is working on an antibody test, which confirms if someone has already had the virus. It hopes to have this service available within two weeks.

    The CEO said the company was trying to make antibody testing available on a large scale for a price of £150 or less, saying this was “in everybody’s interest”.

    CityDoc is owned by European Life Group, a Danish multinational providing vaccines to the public sector for 20 years, and the company says it has the capacity to deliver large NHS orders.

    Asked whether it had been contacted by government, the CEO said: “I’m waiting for that call and I’ll be delighted when they do.”

    The company says a discount code for NHS workers and over-65s would be available on its website on Thursday.

    [​IMG]
    Better2Know is selling Covid-19 tests online for £299
    Another long-established firm, Better2Know Ltd, is offering a Covid-19 coronavirus home test kit for £299 with a promised turnaround time of two days.

    The company’s CEO Michael Asher said the firm had contacted health secretary Matt Hancock and the government about working with the public sector but had no response.

    “We have offered our services to Matt Hancock and the Department of Health directly and I know that our private laboratory has also been in contact with the Department of Health offering their testing capacity,” he said.

    “To date nobody from the Department of Health, Matt Hancock’s office or the NHS has contacted my company asking for assistance and it’s my understanding that none of those organisations has contacted the testing laboratory either.”

    He said the firm had been trading in the UK for more than a decade and worked in 20 countries around the world. “We are not some upstart trying to cash in on the Covid crisis,” he said. “That’s not what we’re about.

    “We’re a medical diagnostics company and we serve tens of thousands patients around the world. That’s what we do – this is our line of business.”

    The CEO said Better2Know also manufactures the Covid-19 testing kits itself, so was not taking stock or capacity from elsewhere.

    “What we are doing is providing testing to people who want it and who cannot access it in any other way,” he said.

    “We have already tested free of charge a number of frontline NHS workers because we understand there is a shortage and a need and we’ve done that out of our sense of civic responsibility to help.”

    He said demand for the tests had been “significant because people are worried”.

    [​IMG]
    NurPhoto via Getty Images
    Other companies providing Covid-19 testing have taken a different approach.

    The Belfast firm Biopanda Reagents has placed a notice on its website under the section “Covid-19 Rapid Test” saying: “IMPORTANT: Effective immediately, we can no longer accept orders from outside the United Kingdom, or from non-healthcare or clinical organisations within the UK.”

    The company usually develops and manufactures in-vitro test kits for clinical laboratories, veterinary practices, environmental protection and food safety.

    Another company, Randox Health, has a message next to its advertising for Covid-19 home testing kits for £120, saying they are “temporarily out of stock”.

    “Please also be aware that, as a result of a critical national demand, Randox have volunteered a significant element of our current Covid-19 testing capacity to the UK national testing programme,” the website statement says.

    “That programme is focusing on key workers and the maintenance of critical national infrastructure – including that of the NHS.”

    How is it that I am being offered #COVID19 tests to buy for my team yet my Paramedic sister hasn't been tested yet? pic.twitter.com/OG4miaBCre

    — Adam Sopher (@AdamSopher) April 1, 2020
    There has also been wider criticism on social media of the government’s response on providing testing for NHS workers.

    One post on Twitter by @AdamSopher said: “How is it I am being offered #COVID19 tests to buy for my team yet my Paramedic sister hasn’t been tested yet?”

    Another by @KateKennedy66 said: “Why can you buy covid19 tests privately for £225, but NHS can’t get a ‘reagent’ or swabs. We are being lied to or they are completely incompetent or both.”

    Another by @JuliadeCadenet said: “So this place is selling #COVID19 kits for £375. Can someone please buy ALL of them for #NHS workers and those truly in need. The fact that ‘celebs’ can buy them with really mild symptoms is worrying.”

    MP David Lammy on Wednesday criticised the government response, saying it was “staggering” that online supermarket Ocado had been able to purchase 100,000 Covid-19 tests for its workers, while the British government had been testing fewer than 10,000 people a day until Thursday.

    [​IMG]
    Statista
    Coronavirus
    On March 27 the government launched a new drive on coronavirus tests for frontline NHS staff, saying they would be “first in line” for a new Covid-19 testing programme developed in collaboration with industry.

    Partnerships were announced with Thermo Fisher Scientific, Amazon, Boots, Royal Mail and Randox, alongside the Wellcome Trust and top UK universities to boost testing capacity for NHS staff.

    But the British Medical Association said earlier this week only 2,000 NHS workers had so far been tested.

    “Doctors and their colleagues are extremely frustrated about this and paid-for home testing kits will no doubt appear tempting if they are seen to allow them back to work,” said a BMA spokesperson.

    “But healthcare workers should not have to pay for these kits – and reliability, safety standards and follow-up care will likely vary across providers.

    “Clearly, the government needs to make good on the promise it’s been making for weeks now to roll out mass testing for healthcare workers urgently so that those who are well can get back to work.”

    HuffPost UK has approached the Department of Health and Social Care for comment.
     
  6. ultravio1et

    ultravio1et Members

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    I'm glad people seem to have stopped the 'panic' buying in supermarkets now.

    Going down to my local sainsbury's to do my weekly shop a few weeks ago was horrific.
     
    mysticblu21 likes this.
  7. Vladimir Illich

    Vladimir Illich Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    being 'chronically sick and disabled', I don't have to go to Sainsburys for my shopping, they come to me !!!
     
  8. Vladimir Illich

    Vladimir Illich Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Scumbag 'nasty party' government stuffs up - official !!!


    Coronavirus: Boris Johnson’s government urged to 'admit mistakes' over handling of pandemic


    The government has been urged to admit to "mistakes" made during its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

    Jill Rutter, programme director at the Institute for Government think tank, said Boris Johnson's administration should "treat the public like grown-ups".

    Her comments followed a report in the Sunday Times which accused the government of dithering in its response to the coronavirus crisis and reported that the prime minister missed five key Cobra meetings.


    On Monday, the Department of Health rejected several of the newspaper's claims in a 2,000-word rebuttal.

    But instead of spending time refuting reports, Rutter said the government would make a better use of its time by conceding it has made mistakes.

    Health secretary Matt Hancock has repeatedly asserted that the UK was well-prepared for the pandemic.

    On Sunday, England's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jenny Harries, used the government's daily coronavirus briefing to controversially claim that the UK has been an "international exemplar in preparedness", despite ongoing anger over a lack of Covid-19 testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers.

    "This sort of defensiveness creates no hiding place for government," said Rutter, in a blog post.

    "It would do much better if it treated the public like grown-ups, able to understand that this is very difficult and that mistakes will be made.

    "It is much more convincing and reassuring for ministers to say that they will learn from mistakes, rather than refusing to acknowledge that any have been made."
     
  9. Vladimir Illich

    Vladimir Illich Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Not content with making a 'pig's ear' of PPE and getting its arse into gear early enough to fight this virus timeously, now it transpires that the testing of NHS staff which allowed them to return to work were faulty !!!


    Coronavirus: NHS staff offered new tests after minister admits first ones were inaccurate


    NHS staff are to be given new coronavirus tests after a minster admitted that the initial results were inaccurate.

    Care minister Helen Whately announced this morning that those who had received inaccurate tests were being notified.

    She told Sky News: "My understanding from the clinical advisers is that some of the early tests were evaluated and the evaluation is that they weren't effective enough.



    "This is a normal process when you are using a test for an illness when this is a new illness.

    "Those that were tested with the test that wasn't up to scratch have been written to and offered another test."

    [​IMG]

    Whately refused to answer when asked whether workers in hospitals had been cleared to work on the front line despite being infected.

    She said: "We have to make sure we look at the reliability of tests.

    "This is really really important, not just to test but to make sure we test people effectively."

    Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth described the admission as "really worrying".

    He said: "I think ministers need to be absolutely clear about how many NHS staff they think have had false tests and what the plan is now to contact those staff so they can be tested again.

    "It is worrying because we were told that the tests developed by Public Health England (PHE) were world leading."

    Whately's admission comes as it was revealed Public Health England (PHE) sent a memo earlier this month that warned about the potential inaccuracies of the test.

    It warned there had been "discordant results" in the existing tests and they are to be replaced with commercial ones.

    Some 100,000 NHS and social care staff and their relatives have so far been tested for COVID-19 so that they are able to work on the frontline without fear of infecting vulnerable patients.

    Ashworth added: "It shouldn't have really be revealed because someone had leaked a memo. Ministers should have been up front about this."

    PHE called reports that the in-house check had failed to detect a positive diagnosis 25% of the time "inaccurate".

    The agency said that the COVID-19 test had produced different results to an alternative test in "less than 2% of samples", and advice was issued to laboratory staff to ensure the test continued to be reliable.

    Professor Sharon Peacock, director of the national infection service at PHE, said: "The test is regularly and thoroughly reviewed to make sure it remains reliable and effective.

    "It is standard practice to move to commercial test kits once available, and this work is already under way."

    The Government is still only around a fifth of a way towards its COVID-19 target of 100,000 tests per day across the UK as an expert said Northern Ireland is ready to begin a contact tracing pilot to curb spread of the virus.

    Less than half of the available coronavirus testing capacity has been used, according to the latest figures, with fewer than 20,000 tests conducted in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday.

    That is despite there being capacity for 39,250 tests to have been carried out over the same period and a deadline of 100,000 tests per day set for the end of this month,

    Downing Street insisted Prime Minister Boris Johnson - who is continuing his recovery from COVID-19 - had full confidence in Health Secretary Matt Hancock and the testing target.
     
  10. Vladimir Illich

    Vladimir Illich Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    It seems, because of the scumbag 'Nasty party's' propensity for privatising everything, the uk was ill-prepared for this Corona virus pandemic. Whereas, prior to 2010 we were well prepared, subsequent privatisations have destroyed that preparedness.


    How prepared was the UK for the coronavirus outbreak?

    PA
    Apr 22nd 2020 11:06AM
    Ministers and health bosses are facing questions over how well prepared the UK was for the coronavirus pandemic amid mounting criticism of everything from the speed at which lockdown was introduced to the levels of personal protective equipment and testing.

    So what planning had there been and was Professor Anthony Costello, a former World Health Organisation director, right to suggest last week that the authorities had been "too slow" to react and that the UK's death toll could become the highest in Europe, reaching 40,000, as a result?

    In 2011, the then government set out its approach to a coronavirus-like pandemic in a UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy.

    Planning was driven in part by an assessment of a "reasonable worst case" scenario and covered the need to stockpile medicines and equipment, and prepare hospitals for a surge in patients with the disease.

    The trouble is, as we're seeing, if you don't have anyone in charge, you end up with things falling between the cracks

    Dr Patricia Lewis, Chatham House
    This was backed up by a Health and Social Care Influenza Pandemic Preparedness and Response document produced a year later, which drew from the experience of the H1N1 influenza (swine flu) pandemic in 2009.

    In 2013, influenza pandemic guidance was issued for local planners which warned of the possibility of school closures in an outbreak.

    Public Health England's (PHE) Pandemic Influenza Response Plan was published in 2014 and highlighted procedures for rolling out stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE) as well as the use of "just in time" procurement to supplement them.

    Then in October 2016, the government ran a three-day exercise codenamed Cygnus that tested the country's ability to handle an influenza pandemic.

    The findings from the Cygnus exercise have not been made public, but recent news reports suggested that they revealed a shortage of critical care beds and PPE – and that the subsequent recommendations were not acted upon.

    The Government has roundly dismissed those reports and said it was "extremely proactive" in implementing lessons learned from the past, including Cygnus, such as shaping "legislative proposals" that informed the Coronavirus Act.

    But Dr Patricia Lewis, research director for international security at think tank Chatham House, said: "The trouble is, if you don't know the results of it how do you know that the lessons learned were applied?"

    She said the UK's response preparations needed greater levels of scrutiny, such as a new legal requirement for the Government to report to Parliament every year on the state of national plans.

    This would include stock levels of essential equipment, hospitals' ability to cope with a large influx of patients and the findings of any drills or simulations.

    Despite saying it has distributed millions of PPE items to health workers, the Government has faced repeated criticism on shortages.


    There have been questions over why it had not taken part in an EU procurement scheme and why not all production offers from domestic manufacturers have been accepted.

    Health Secretary Matt Hancock has denied that politics were involved in the EU decision, adding that the scheme has not yet made anything available.

    He also said checks were needed on offers from UK firms as not all opportunities had been "credible".

    I don't think it was in any way the politicians who were alone in being complacent at all

    Professor Peter Openshaw, Imperial College
    Dr Lewis said that PPE shortages were a "really shocking state of affairs" and were one of the basic issues that "parliamentarians need to scrutinise".

    She said Parliament's National Security Strategy Joint Committee inquiry into preparing for emerging infectious diseases and bioweapons was forced to close last year as the general election was called.

    Dr Lewis said some other countries had so far appeared "better prepared", including South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and New Zealand.

    Peter Openshaw, professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College, said "really good" preparations under previous Labour governments had helped the bioscience sector respond quickly to the current crisis.

    But he said there had been an "underinvestment" in the public health infrastructure and devolution had "fragmented what used to be a world class service".

    He added: "I think the capacity we've got in terms of being able to test large numbers of samples would be better if we had scaled up rather than really squeezed the investment over the past few years."

    Prof Openshaw said the countries who had done well during the pandemic were those who had "put biotechnology and bioscience high on their agenda".

    He suggested that between outbreaks "complacency accrues" among "opinion leaders and the funders", adding that he even had to convince other scientists of the risks posed by Covid-19 in early March.

    "At that time, I was lying awake at night unable to sleep, worrying about just how terrible it was looking," he said.

    He added: "I don't think it was in any way the politicians who were alone in being complacent at all."

    Whether politicians were alone or not, the role of the UK's political leaders in the early stages of the crisis has come under scrutiny.

    On Sunday, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove was forced to defend Prime Minister Boris Johnson – currently recovering from Covid-19 at Chequers – amid reports he missed five meetings of the Cobra committee, convened to handle matters of national emergency, in the early stages of the current crisis.

    Mr Gove said the idea that Mr Johnson had skipped vital meetings was "grotesque", emphasising that his leadership during the crisis had been "clear" and "inspirational".

    In the House of Commons on Wednesday, Mr Hancock said the Government was committed to "ramping up" testing and contact-tracing "in a matter of weeks".

    There is a real difference between what we're being told by the Government about protective equipment and what we're hearing first hand from the front line. This mismatch must be addressed urgently. pic.twitter.com/EEppzqJwR6

    — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) April 21, 2020

    But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said there was a "pattern emerging" in the Government's response, adding "we were slow into lockdown, slow on testing, slow on protective equipment".

    Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab rejected his comments, saying ministers had been "guided by the scientific advice... at every step along this way".

    In terms of lessons for the future, Dr Lewis said the Government should reinstate the position of minister for resilience, a role last held in 2018 by Conservative MP Caroline Nokes.

    Dr Lewis said: "The trouble is, as we're seeing, if you don't have anyone in charge, you end up with things falling between the cracks."
     
  11. Vladimir Illich

    Vladimir Illich Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Hmmmm - this could prove expensive !!!



    Coronavirus: Married doctors launch legal challenge over government's PPE failures
    ‘Every time a healthcare worker becomes hospitalised with Covid-19, it exacts an extraordinary toll on our friends, family and colleagues,’ say couple


    A married couple who are both doctors are bringing a legal challenge against the government over its failure to provide adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) to health and care workers.

    Meenal Viz, a clinical fellow in medicine who is six months pregnant, and GP trainee Nishant Joshi brought the complaint against Public Health England and the Department of Health in a pre-action letter this week.

    Both NHS doctors said they had been exposed to patients infected with Covid-19, and challenged the lawfulness of current PPE guidance on when and how the vital gear is used, as well as its availability.

    The couple are challenging the guidance on the basis that it diverges from both World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines and Britain’s own health and safety legislation.

    They also claim it is unclear, puts health workers at elevated risk of contracting coronavirus, and does not address increased risks to staff who are black or from other minority ethnic groups.


    The couple added the guidance does not make clear that healthcare workers have a right to refuse to work without adequate PPE.

    The medics called for an urgent review of the guidance and confirmation from Matt Hancock, the health secretary, that the government was urgently sourcing more equipment.

    In a statement, they said: “We are incredibly concerned at the ever-growing numbers of healthcare workers who are becoming seriously unwell and dying due to Covid-19.

    “It is the government’s duty to protect its healthcare workers, and there is great anxiety amongst staff with regards to safety protocols that seem to change without rhyme or reason.


    “Every time a healthcare worker becomes hospitalised with Covid-19, it exacts an extraordinary toll on our friends, family and colleagues.

    “To sedate and ventilate your own colleague takes a mental toll on the entire workforce. The government needs to protect us, so that we can protect you.”

    More than 80 frontline NHS workers have been confirmed to have died during the coronavirus pandemic.

    Meanwhile, reports by the Health Service Journal (HSJ) on Thursday suggested that of the much-anticipated shipment of 400,000 medical gowns arriving from Turkey, only 32,000 had been delivered.

    The HSJ cited senior sources in NHS procurement, who estimate that the gowns would last health service workers just a few hours.

    Another RAF plane understood to be carrying another shipment of PPE from Turkey landed at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Thursday evening, with at least one more flight expected overnight.


    In response to the pre-action letter, a Public Health England spokesperson said: “The safety of those working on the front line in health and social care is our number-one priority.

    “The UK guidance, written with NHS leaders and agreed by all four chief medical officers, in consultation with royal and medical colleges, recommends the safest level of personal protective equipment.

    “The WHO has confirmed that UK guidance is consistent with what it recommends for the highest risk procedures.”
     

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