Zero deaths from Covid have been reported in London for the first time in six months, according to Public Health England (PHE). BBC News has the story.
PHE figures for March 28th showed no deaths had been registered of patients within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.
At the height of the crisis last April, about 230 deaths a day linked to the virus were recorded in London.
“This is a fantastic milestone, but we’re a long way from returning to normal,” one doctor said.
It is the first time the daily Covid figures have shown zero deaths in the capital since September.
Dr Jim Down of University College Hospital says that, while Covid cannot be forgotten about, the focus of hospitals should start shifting to the non-Covid health crisis.
We’re down to about seven Covid patients on the intensive care unit and we’re expecting them to get better.
It’s a wonderful feeling but it sets up new challenges.
The backlog for people needing hip replacements and cancer treatment is vast. You need to start bringing them back in but keep the hospitals ready in case of a third wave.
Professor Karol Sikora has similarly stressed the urgency of dealing with the huge backlog of non-Covid patients.
Over the last year, politicians have been adopting untried and untested policies, the consequences of which none of us can yet fully grasp. The main aim, of course, of these extraordinary lockdown measures has been to suppress Covid in order to reduce pressure on our hospitals. That has been the metric on which Government approval has been judged.
Whether or not you agree with every restriction, it is clear that this focus has sucked the oxygen away from other pressing health issues. Covid required a response unlike anything we have seen in modern times. But was it right that this happen at the expense of so many other illnesses which have torn apart millions of families?
Too often it has been framed as Covid or cancer; it does not need to be like this. We turned the country on its head to deal with this virus; we now need to tackle the non-Covid health crisis with the same vigour.
Currently, the number of people waiting to receive hospital treatment in England stands at 4.6 million (a record high).
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