Coronavirus: 73 staff at London hospital diagnosed with COVID-19 and 318 self-isolate
SEVENTY-THREE staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital have been diagnosed with coronavirus and another 318 have been self-isolating as the Government vows to roll out more testing for NHS staff.
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The news about the children’s hospital in London was revealed by the Director of the Institute for Global Health at the University College London Anthony Costello. It comes as more than 50,000 people across the world have died from coronavirus and 2,921 in the UK.
Mr Costello tweeted: “We now have eight COVID-19 patients across the hospital.
“Through our staff testing, we have had 73 confirmed COVID-19 positive staff members of 181 tested.
“318 staff members are currently off work because they, or someone in their household, are displaying symptoms. This is similar to yesterday.”
People on social media have said the number of NHS workers to test positive at the London children's hospital is worrying.
One Twitter user said: "NHS staff are being treated like lamb to slaughter.
“They have been crying for PPE and testing for weeks and months”.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said today the Government aims for 100,000 tests a day by the end of April.
The tests will be prioritised for NHS staff so they do not have to self-isolate if they have not tested positive.
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The families of NHS staff will also be prioritised so NHS staff do not stay at home unless a family member actually has the infection.
A Great Ormond Street Hospital spokesperson said: “We continue to monitor COVID-19 related staff absence carefully which currently equates to 6 per cent of our workforce and are able to fully staff all of the services we have planned to run at this time.”
When asked why politicians were being tested, Mr Hancock said today that people making key decisions were a priority.
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Mr Costello has also tweeted today about the UK being two weeks behind Italy in its COVID-19 trajectory.
He tweeted: “Great threat. We are tracking Italy 14 days behind.
“‘Suggests a lockdown one week earlier could have led to an epidemic three times smaller (translating into many thousand fewer deaths and a shorter and less disruptive lockdown)”.