Covid-19 Update — House of Commons, 2020-12-30
Topic: Health
Jonathan Michael Graham Ashworth (Labour, Centre-left): As always, I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his statement. I totally understand why he has had to come to the House this afternoon to move further areas into tiers 3 and 4. As he says, almost the whole of England is now in a form of lockdown. My constituents in Leicester and, I am sure, constituents in Greater Manchester will be deeply worried that our areas have now been in a form of restrictions for months and months. It is having a huge impact on families and small businesses in cities such as Leicester and, I am sure, areas in Greater Manchester. He has also moved Liverpool into tier 3. Liverpool was the great success story, so is it his view now that mass lateral flow testing is not enough to contain the spread of this virus? Our constituents will be asking how long he expects these lockdowns to be in place We will vote for the regulations tonight, because the situation we are in is truly horrific. As he has outlined, the virus is out of control. Yesterday, over 47,000 cases were reported in England. In the last two weeks, nearly half a million cases were reported in England. There are now more patients in hospital—over 20,000—than at any time in this pandemic, with admissions rising day by day, including almost 2,000 on Christmas day. Hospitals are close to or at surge capacity. We see ambulances queuing up outside hospitals because there are not enough beds for patients. We have London hospitals requesting to transfer patients in need of intensive care to Yorkshire. Frontline healthcare workers warn of oxygen supplies running low. Can the Secretary of State assure us that there will be no disruption in oxygen supplies through this second wave Our NHS staff are exhausted. Morale is low. Staff absence is said to be double its normal level. Leave for many is cancelled. And this time, there is no evening applause on our streets; just long, dark, hard nights for our NHS staff. The Nightingales were opened at great expense and fanfare, but now we hear that some of them, such as London’s, have been emptied. Will they be used? If so, given the staff shortages across the NHS, how will they be staffed? There are reports today that only one in eight retired NHS staff—just 5,000 out of an eligible 30,000 who applied—have been brought back to help. Should we not be making full use of this resource, especially to help with vaccination Today’s AstraZeneca news is indeed a tremendous boost, and I congratulate all involved, but can the Secretary of State confirm how many doses we currently have ready to go? We are in a crisis now. Mass vaccination needs to start straightaway. We need to go hell for leather to get these jabs rolled out with no delay. We have already lost more than 600 healthcare workers to this horrific virus, including a disproportionate number of black, Asian and minority ethnic staff. Frontline NHS staff need the protection of the vaccine ASAP. Will the Secretary of State set a clear target for when all NHS frontline staff will receive the life-saving jab, and can he tell us when all care home residents and staff will be vaccinated? He will recall that I raised with him the situation facing those with terminal illnesses. Will he clarify the JCVI’s guidance for that group today This is a race against time, because the more the virus circulates, the more opportunities there are for further variants to emerge. The new B.1.1.7 variant is 56% more transmissible and is the dominant strain in London and the south-east and east of England. The New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group minutes from 18 December suggest it could add at least 0.4 to the R. Given that the first lockdown brought R down to about 0.6, and the second down to about 0.8, it will surely be harder to bring infections under control, so harder measures will be needed. Will the Secretary of State publish in realtime the advice he receives from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies on the restrictions needed This is a global crisis, but let us be clear: this is a national emergency. Our national health service is becoming overwhelmed. I hope that tier 4 restrictions are enough, but many believe that even tougher restrictions are now inevitable. Does the Secretary of State agree? We need not put more lives in jeopardy when vaccines are so near. Let us give the achievements of our scientists the best chance to save lives. The country sacrificed so much in 2020. Let us not repeat the same mistakes. We must start 2021 by right now doing everything it takes to save lives and support our NHS. Only then can we look forward with confidence and hope.