NHS doctor, 52, is on life support amid fears many more medics will catch coronavirus

NHS doctor, 52, is on life support amid fears many more medics will catch coronavirus 
NewsColony

A senior NHS doctor is fighting for life after being infected with coronavirus, which may have happened during a routine appointment with a patient.

The 52-year-old ear, nose and throat consultant from the Midlands had been ‘fit and well’ but was last night on a life-support machine. 

News of the medic’s plight came as NHS colleagues warned many more staff will fall ill – or even die – from coronavirus because of a chronic shortage of protective equipment.

A senior NHS doctor is fighting for life after being infected with coronavirus, which may have happened during a routine appointment with a patient. Pictured: A coronavirus public notice sign outside a London hospital

The UK’s coronavirus death toll has skyrocketed by 56 bringing the total fatalities to 233 in the worst 24 hours the country has seen yet

Medics wear protective suits, face masks and goggles as they work in Nuova Poliambulanza hospital, Italy

Meanwhile, hospitals were scrambling to avoid meltdown amid a ‘tsunami’ of severely ill patients, many of them struggling to breathe. 

And in a stark illustration of the desperate hunt for life-saving kit, health bosses have been forced to ask vets for ventilators designed for animals.

Angela and Robert Walsh, who own Corner House Equine Clinic in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, said their local hospital had got in touch to ask about ventilators. Writing on Facebook, Mrs Walsh said: ‘This brings home how serious this pandemic is. Never before have the vets of Britain been asked to provide equipment for humans.’

Mrs Walsh told The Mail on Sunday that Christine Middlemiss, the UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer, has written to every vet in the country asking for an inventory of their respiratory equipment.

In hospitals, operating theatres are being frantically converted into intensive care wards and regular patients are being discharged to make way for a massive surge in coronavirus cases.

Hospitals were scrambling to avoid meltdown amid a ‘tsunami’ of severely ill patients, many of them struggling to breathe. Pictured: Boris Johnson in a coronavirus cabinet meeting today

NHS chief executive Simon Stevens (pictured) yesterday announced an ‘unprecedented deal’ which will see private hospitals hand over their entire England-wide capacity of over 8,000 beds and 1,200 ventilators to the health service

NHS chief executive Simon Stevens announced an ‘unprecedented deal’ which will see private hospitals hand over their entire England-wide capacity of over 8,000 beds and 1,200 ventilators to the health service. The NHS will pay ‘cost price’, so private hospitals will not make a profit.

Official figures seen by this newspaper show that at midnight on Thursday, 163 Covid-19 patients were being treated in critical care units across England – 106 of them in London. Of those, 70 per cent were men and only one in ten had severe underlying health problems. London is so far the hardest pressed area. One hospital, Northwick Park in Harrow, briefly ran out of intensive care beds on Friday.

Elsewhere in the capital, doctors – including those at some of the country’s most prestigious hospitals – admitted they may be only days away from the same fate.

One consultant at a major Central London hospital told The Mail on Sunday: ‘What’s going on up the A40 at Northwick Park is going to land right smack in our face.

‘Our whole hospital is pandemonium. It’s managing, but it’s about to stop managing.’

Hundreds of coronavirus patients are now being treated in hospitals across London, where around half of the 233 deaths have been. Pictured: Medics outside a London hospital

As the epidemic gathers pace in London and spreads across the rest of the country, he predicted similar problems elsewhere. ‘Northwick Park will invariably happen in each hospital, one by one. We are expecting this because of what’s happened in Italy and Spain.’

Hundreds of coronavirus patients are now being treated in hospitals across London, where around half of the 233 deaths have been.

An intensive care specialist in South London predicted grimly: ‘A tsumani is coming soon and there will be a time when we won’t be able to help everyone who needs an intensive care bed.’

He added, however, that staff were making ‘a superb effort’, adding: ‘I think it’s fair to say we have saved around a dozen patients’ lives in the last week, who wouldn’t have made it but for our work.’

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) yesterday issued updated treatment guidance that said those deemed ‘mildly frail’ or worse could be denied intensive care because they have the lowest chance of surviving. Those with better underlying health should be prioritised.

In Italy, almost a tenth of patients in hospital with the virus have been healthcare workers – a statistic that has sent a chill down the spines of NHS medics.

The Italian experience shows it is not just those treating Covid-19 patients who are at risk, but also those working elsewhere in hospitals – many of them with less protection. The Central London consultant, who does not work in intensive care, said: ‘I have major concerns about our safety, not only for our own sakes, but because if we can’t function, we can’t look after people. I work in a very high profile trust in Central London and currently many staff have no personal protective equipment [PPE].

‘My colleagues are telling me, ‘Forget PPE. There’s not even basic normal surgical masks, hand wash and hand gel in many areas where it’s really needed.’

He said one NHS worker had been reduced to ‘driving around B&Qs buying up dust masks’ because no facemasks had been provided at work. ‘It’s like sending us to put out a huge fire wearing no protective equipment, while asking every else to stay at home,’ the consultant added. Dr Lisa Anderson, a consultant cardiologist at St George’s Hospital in South London, said staff risk ‘cross-infecting everybody’ due to the lack of kit. She said the equipment the NHS was handing out did not meet World Health Organisation guidelines.

It is feared the stricken ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor may have picked up the virus through a routine appointment while not wearing PPE. Mark Watson, president of the British Laryngological Association, wrote to members: ‘It does appear that ENT specialists are particularly prone to virus exposure, and we have two examples of severe infection within the UK: two ENT consultants have required intensive care unit admission this week.’

And in a stark illustration of the desperate hunt for life-saving kit, health bosses have been forced to ask vets for ventilators designed for animals. Pictured: People wear protective face masks outside Northwick Park Hospital in London

Mr Watson told The Mail on Sunday that the most seriously ill doctor was on an ‘artificial lung’ machine. The other consultant, in his 40s and from Yorkshire, is on a ventilator but is improving.

Patrick Magennis, chairman of the British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, said doctors should wear heavy-duty protective kit, including a sealed mask, before ‘close face-to-face contact’ with any patient.

‘To do otherwise is to be playing a very high risk health lottery,’ he warned.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Surgery has called for all plastic surgery to cease. Founding member Mark Henley said surgeons are at ‘an increased risk during these hazardous times’.

Crooks target elderly in ‘epidemic of scams’ 

By Abul Taher Security Correspondent 

Callous criminals are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to target the elderly and vulnerable in their homes by posing as NHS workers and Good Samaritans. 

Several police forces have warned that thieves are stealing cash and bank cards after offering to buy groceries for isolated pensioners. 

Meanwhile, millions of Britons are being targeted by bogus online firms offering to sell face masks and hand sanitisers. 

Callous criminals are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to target the elderly and vulnerable in their homes by posing as NHS workers and Good Samaritans (stock image)

The scammers are trying to extract personal and bank details through a blizzard of emails purportedly from the World Health Organisation and the taxman. 

In one case, a hospice said hackers had stolen the medical data of more than 1,000 terminally sick patients and their next of kin. 

Yesterday, a 59-year-old man appeared in court charged with making fake coronavirus treatment kits and mailing them across the world. 

Frank Ludlow, from West Sussex, was arrested in a Post Office near his home on Friday and appeared in Brighton Magistrates’ Court. 

The investigation was triggered after US customs intercepted a package last Wednesday containing 60 fake kits labelled ‘anti-pathogenic treatment’, the court heard.  

Ludlow was remanded in custody until April 20. Three police forces and Action Fraud last night warned the public to be vigilant against an ‘epidemic of scams’. 

Meanwhile, millions of Britons are being targeted by bogus online firms offering to sell face masks and hand sanitisers (stock image)

Kloe Burrows, from West Midlands Police economic crime unit, said: ‘Times like these can bring out the best and worst in people. While some will be looking out for vulnerable relatives and friends, we know a small minority will be looking to profit from the worry and concerns caused by coronavirus.’  

Scotland Yard and Greater Manchester Police said they had received reports of criminals posing as NHS workers who had come to carry out Covid-19 testing. Once let in, they robbed their victims. 

Elsewhere, fraudsters posed as kind-hearted locals offering to buy groceries. But instead of returning with the shopping, they simply fled with the money. 

Action Fraud said it had been inundated with complaints about cons totalling almost £1million in recent weeks, including a medical company that lost £15,000 after it ordered a batch of face masks from a bogus online firm. 

Ellenor hospice in Gravesend, Kent, was targeted by hackers just as the coronavirus was taking a grip in the UK.

In a letter to patients last week, chief executive Vikki Harding, said: ‘I am writing to inform you of a recent data breach incident that occurred on February 7, 2020, at Ellenor hospice.

‘I am writing to you because some of your personal information may have been accessed. I am so sorry that this happened and any distress it may cause you.’ 

Mimecast, an online security company, said it had detected more than one million scam emails every day. 

And internet security firm Proofpoint, which has seen hundreds of thousands of phishing emails, said most were coming from Eastern Europe, Russia and the former Soviet states, but also from African countries including Nigeria. 

Keep calm and carry a dog… how British life goes on 

MASKED MAN’S BEST FRIEND: A cyclist with his pet in South London

SING UP! Crooner Steve Linn entertains the residents of a Dorset care home from the safety of their garden

LUNCH DATE: Visitors enjoy a picnic in the sun in the gardens of Uppark House in Petersfield, Hampshire

Covidiots! The ‘ignorant’ revellers defying Boris 

By Mark Hookham 

Spaying a bottle of fizz in the street, drinking in groups outside and cavorting together in a shopping trolley, young revellers risk catching and spreading coronavirus by defying orders not to visit pubs or clubs. 

Bars and clubs remained packed throughout Friday evening as revellers sought a final fling before a government ban came into effect at closing time.

But critics described the merrymakers – many in their 20s or early 30s – as ‘morons’ for flouting Government advice on ‘social distancing’. 

Bars and clubs remained packed throughout Friday evening as revellers sought a final fling before a government ban came into effect at closing time. Pictured: A woman pops a bottle outside the O Bar in Birmingham

In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must close within hours as part of the drive to slow the spread of the virus. 

He urged the public to avoid the temptation to go out for a final drink, saying: ‘Listening to what I have just said, some people may be tempted to go out tonight. But please don’t.’ 

But his plea was ignored in many town and city centres across Britain. 

Young revellers were pictured hitting the dance floor at closing time at the Lord Stamford pub in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. 

Some bars, including the busy O Bar in Birmingham, remained open until midnight. Boozers staggered home in Newcastle and people queued at the door of the Orange Tree in Altrincham, Cheshire, to have one last tipple. 

But critics described the merrymakers – many in their 20s or early 30s – as ‘morons’ for flouting Government advice on ‘social distancing’. Pictured: Drinking in a pub in Stalybridge

Drinkers gathered for a final pint in the Globe pub in London’s Borough Market, O’Neill’s in Clapham, London, and The Cambrian Tap in Cardiff. 

And in Birmingham’s Broad Street, a group of six friends posing for a photo shouted ‘coronavirus’ instead of cheese. Actor Stephen McGann, who plays Dr Patrick Turner in the BBC drama Call The Midwife, yesterday accused the revellers of spreading the deadly virus. 

He tweeted: ‘Last night, all over the country, a virus returned from the pub in the bodies of people too selfish to believe that their own self-amusement was subordinate to the health of others.

‘This morning, that virus will shed from their hungover bodies and begin to kill people.’ 

Rich Gill, a PE teacher, wrote on Twitter on Friday: ‘Pubs shut tomorrow. However the pub next door to me is packed now. Folk aren’t taking this seriously and aren’t following govt advice. Ignorant, selfish and unintelligent.’ 

Mother-of-two Lizzy Beynon, from Wales, wrote: ‘To all the people that went out last night in the pubs for one last “hurrah!” You are all absolute morons. Potentially infecting so many other people to fill your selfish greed.’ 

And TV presenter Richard Osman tweeted: ‘People still congregating in busy spaces saying “It’s the Dunkirk spirit”, need to understand that in this scenario they are actually being the Luftwaffe.’ 

In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Friday that bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants must close within hours as part of the drive to slow the spread of the virus. Pictured: A couple on the town in Newcastle

Tim Martin, boss of pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon, was criticised after he claimed – without any evidence – that ‘there’s hardly been any transmission of the virus within pubs’. 

Mr Martin, 64, had warned that a shutdown policy would be ‘over the top’ but later said his chain of 900 pubs would comply with Mr Johnson’s announcement.

The Prime Minister has said the ban will be reviewed each month, and restaurants, bars and cafes will still be allowed to offer takeaway services. 

Police warned they would enforce the shutdown if any establishments attempted to open before the ban was lifted. ‘It’s very simple,’ said Ken Marsh, head of the Metropolitan Police Federation.

‘Under licensing laws we can revoke their licences, and then they are breaking the law.’

Source : Mail Online | NewsColony: World News

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