The number of confirmed UK cases of the virus has reached 1,543, with 44,105 people tested, according to the latest Department of Health figures. The death toll rose to 55. Almost all of the new cases were in England.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) testing in the UK:
As of 9am on 16 March, a total of 44,105 have been tested:
42,562 negative.
1,543 positive.55 patients who tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have sadly died.
▶️ https://t.co/h3NNKoHUmW pic.twitter.com/JIfVXtwDVv
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) March 16, 2020
Most of the 55 coronavirus-related deaths in the UK have so far been people aged over 60 and with underlying health conditions. The youngest victim was Nick Matthews, 59.
Health secretary Matt Hancock, speaking on Sunday morning, said that people aged over 70 would face up to 4 months of isolation.
Action to isolate over-70s to shield them from coronavirus is planned in coming weeks, UK health secretary confirms https://t.co/iy2EDudse5
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) March 15, 2020
Health secretary confirms measure will be announced in future but declines to give details. Mr Hancock said: “We do not want formally to say yet that people should do that. The reason for that is simply this length of time that they’d need to stay self-isolated, stay at home to protect themselves – it’s a very big ask, it’s a very long time. We do know that if you ask people to do this sort of thing they can tire of it; we know it has negative impacts.” – according to BBC.
He also confirmed that the police would be given emergency powers to arrest those not self-isolating, adding: “We are going to take the powers to make sure that we can quarantine people if they are a risk to public health, yes, and that’s important. I doubt that actually we will need to use it much because people have been very responsible.”
https://twitter.com/AamerAnwar/status/1239356095711363072
The health secretary also announced a national effort to produce more ventilators for the NHS. “We have around 5,000 ventilators, we think we need many times more than that,” he said. “We’re saying that if you produce a ventilator then we will buy it. No number is too high. We’ve been working with companies for some time but also to switch over production” – according to Independent.
The chair of the British Medical Association’s council Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “Our starting position unfortunately has been far worse than many of our other European nations. We have about a quarter of the critical care beds that Germany has an an example. It’s really important that we now see transparently the plans that the government has to expand that capacity.”
Natalia Jasinska
Source: Twitter
