CORONAVIRUS deaths today hit 55 in Britain as cases surged to 1,543 – a jump of 171 more from yesterday.
A further 19 people have died after testing positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of deaths in England to 53, NHS England said.
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There has also been one death in Wales and one in Scotland bringing the total number of deaths in the UK to 55.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock described it as “the most serious public health emergency that our nation has faced for a generation”.
Confirming the rise in deaths in a statement to the Commons today, he said: “Our goal is to protect life.
“Our actions have meant that the spread of the virus has been slowed in the UK and I want to pay tribute to the officials at Public Health England and the NHS for their exemplary approach to contact tracing and their work so far.
“However, the disease is now accelerating and 55 have sadly now died. Our hearts across this whole House go out to their families.”
Our policy is to fight this virus with everything we’ve got
Matt Hancock
Mr Hancock added: “Our policy is to fight this virus with everything we’ve got”.
He said: “We’ll give the NHS whatever it needs and we will do whatever it takes.
“We’ll get through this by working through our action plan to contain, delay, research and mitigate the virus and that plan has two overriding aims – to protect the NHS by building it up and flattening the curve and to protect life by safeguarding those who are most vulnerable.”
First Welsh deaths
Hospitals across the UK have been confirming lost patients, all of whom had underlying or significant health conditions, and expressed their deepest condolences for the families who have lost loved ones.
It comes as the first patients in Wales died at Wrexham Maelor Hospital with 30 more coronavirus cases recorded today.
The patients were aged between 56 – the youngest victim so far – and 94 years old and had underlying health conditions, according to NHS England.
Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust confirmed two deaths at Wexham Park Hospital in Wexham, Berkshire, in a statement: “The patients, who died on Tuesday March 10 and Friday March 13, were both in their 90s and both had underlying health conditions.”
Richard Beeken, chief executive for Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust said that a woman in her 80s who was being cared for at Walsall Manor Hospital and tested positive for COVID-19, died on March 12.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals Foundation Trust chief executive James Sumner confirmed the death of a man in his 60s at Leighton Hospital.
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust said a male patient aged in his 50s had died on March 11 after testing positive.
Ben Travis, chief executive for Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, confirmed two deaths at Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
He said: “The two patients, who died on Saturday 14 March and Sunday 15 March, were in their 80s.”
Two patients who tested positive for Covid-19 have died at St George’s Hospital, one was in his sixties and one in his seventies.
Alwen Williams, chief executive for Barts Health NHS Trust, confirmed that a third patient had died after testing positive following two deaths over the weekend.
A spokesman for University Hospital Southampton said a 69-year-old man had died after testing positive for the illness.
The spokesman said: “Sadly, we can confirm that a man who was being cared for at University Hospital Southampton and had tested positive for Covid-19, has died.
“The patient was aged 69 and had underlying health conditions.
“His family has been informed and our thoughts and condolences are with them at this difficult and distressing time.”
It comes after 59-year-old Nick Matthews, died from Covid-19 early on Saturday after he developed symptoms holidaying in Spain.
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NHS staff tests positive
A member of staff at the Queen’s Hospital in Burton has tested positive for Covid-19, the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust (UHDB) said.
Executive medical director at UHDB, Dr Magnus Harrison, has assured patients and staff that the hospital is prepared and that the situation is being managed properly.
He said: “We are very well prepared. All staff members who had close contact with the healthcare worker have been spoken to and we have written to all patients who had close contact to provide the appropriate advice.
“The risk to patients and staff at Queen’s Hospital Burton is very low and we are working with individual patients to appropriately manage their care.
“We would like to offer assurance that it remains safe for patients to attend our hospitals as normal and ask patients to attend scheduled appointments unless you are contacted by the department caring for you.”
Johnson advises social distancing
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson today announced that all Brits should avoid pubs, clubs and theatres, stop all non-essential contact and travel, and work from home if they can.
He set out the need for “drastic action” to tackle the “fast growth” of coronavirus across the UK as increased social distancing measures are introduced for the population.
As part of the measures, anyone living in a household with somebody who has either a persistent cough or fever must now also isolate themselves for 14 days.
All people should avoid gatherings and crowded places, while people who are vulnerable – including those who are elderly – will need to undertake even more drastic measures.
Mr Johnson said that from Tuesday mass gatherings are something “we are now moving emphatically away from”.
He said “if you or anyone in your household” had one of the two symptoms – a high temperature or continuous cough – “you should stay at home for 14 days.
“That means that if possible you should not go out, even to buy food or essentials, other than for exercise and in that case at a safe distance from others.”
London ‘is ahead’
Mr Johnson said London appeared to be “a few weeks ahead” of other areas and urged people in the capital to pay special attention to the measures – including home working – suggested by the Government.
Mr Johnson added: “We want to ensure that this period of shielding, this period of maximum protection, coincides with the peak of the disease and it is now clear that the peak of the epidemic is coming faster in some parts of the country than in others.”
He also said “unnecessary” visits to friends and relatives in care homes should cease.
Mr Johnson said the advice about avoiding all social contact was particularly important for people over 70, for pregnant women and for those with some health conditions.
By the weekend, those groups particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 will be asked to stay at home for 12 weeks to ensure they are “largely shielded from social contact”, he said.
Mr Johnson said: “Clearly what we’re announcing today is a very substantial change in the way that we want people to live their lives and I can’t remember anything like it in my lifetime. I don’t think there has really been anything like it in peacetime.
“And we have to accept that it is a very considerable psychological, behavioural change that we’re asking you, we’re asking the public, the nation to do.
“But I have absolutely no doubt that we can do it, that we can do it together.”
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The Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said these latest measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 would have a “big effect”.
“This is not a series of small interventions. You would anticipate that this could have a dramatic effect to reduce the peak and to reduce death rates,” he said.
“This is a matter for us to take accountability to make sure we help each other, protect ourselves and protect the NHS.”
Other measures
Sir Patrick said the UK is now looking “more like three weeks” behind Italy, the epicentre of the European outbreak of Covid-19.
He said other measures may be necessary – including school closures – at some point.
Chief medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, said measures to tackle the spread of the disease would need to be in place for a “prolonged period” and that the Government was trying to prevent “indirect deaths” – where people die because they cannot get the right medical care.
He added: “This is going to go on for some time. We should not be under any illusions that ‘if we just do this for a couple of weeks that is sufficient’.
Prof Whitty said the group of people who should take this advice particularly seriously “are older people above 70, people who in adult life would normally be advised to have the flu vaccination, so these are people with chronic diseases such as chronic heart disease or chronic kidney disease, and also – as a precautionary measure because we are early in our understanding and we want to be sure – women who are pregnant.
“Those are the groups we want to take particular care to minimise their social contact which of course will have very significant risks for them,” he added.
Some in the scientific community have criticised the Government up until now for taking a slower and more relaxed response to the pandemic than other countries.
About 170,000 people have been infected by Covid-19 across the world and more than 6,500 have died.
