COVID-19: UK Health Minister asserts govt didn't sacrifice care homes for hospitals

UK Health Minister Matt Hancock dismissed the reports that claimed the government left many elderly people vulnerable to COVID-19 by prioritising hospitals. Speaking to Sky News, Hancock said that the government did not sacrifice the elderly in residential homes to prevent hospital resources from getting overwhelmed coronavirus cases.

The British minister asserted that the government worked very hard, from start, to protect people in care homes and put a “huge amount of effort” and resources behind supporting care homes. However, he admitted that the United Kingdom had not the capacity to test people on a large scale at the start of the outbreak.

Britain has overtaken Italy to record a sombre landmark of highest death toll related to COVID-19 in Europe, according to the latest report. UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) released weekly data on deaths occurring up to April 24 and registered up to May 2, adding around 7,000 more fatalities to the number reported by Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), taking the total to 32,313 as of late April.

Read: UK Scientist Who Warned Over Virus Quits For Lockdown Breach

A total of 27,356 deaths involving COVID-19 were registered in England and Wales between December 28, 2019, and April 24, 2020. However, there was a change in how DHSC would report COVID-19 fatalities, directing to include all deaths where a positive test for COVID-19 has been confirmed irrespective of the place instead of reporting only the confirmed COVID-19 deaths in hospitals.

ONS, on its website, said that the data series has been improved by Public Health England (PHE) to include all deaths where a positive test for COVID-19 has been confirmed, wherever the death took place. The improved data series have been reconciled back to March 6, 2020, when the first COVID-19 deaths were notified.

Read: UK Top Medical Expert Resigns After Violating Lockdown Rules: Reports

Ministry cautions on new data

However, the Health Ministry issued a statement on Twitter saying the latest figures published by ONS has a different methodology and it can not be directly compared or extrapolated. It cautioned against extrapolating or estimating figures based on historic data as it risks being “extremely misleading”.

Read: UK, US Kick Off Post-Brexit Free Trade Talks Amid Outbreak

Read: UK Registers Highest COVID-19 Death Toll In Europe Overtaking Italy: Report

(Image credit: AP)